In the latest development in a graft scandal implicating her family, former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) yesterday said that she had not stashed NT$740 million (US$22 million) in a local firm.
“Wu Shu-jen was hospitalized during the time,” Wu’s lawyer Lee Sheng-hsiung (李勝雄) said yesterday. “It was impossible for her to assign anyone to move the money to Yuanta Securities [元大證券].”
“She swears on her life that she did not interfere in financial reforms” during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) term, Lee told reporters.
Lee’s remarks came after Tu Li-ping (杜麗萍), a Yuanta Securities board director, told prosecutors that Wu asked her to take NT$740 million in cash to her firm for safe-keeping during a campaign in 2006 initiated by former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) aimed at ousting Chen from office in 2006.
Tu said that NT$200 million was given to the Chen family when Yuanta was in the process of merging with another company, but added that it was not a bribe.
Wu said through her lawyer yesterday that she had accepted only NT$20 million in the form of a “political donation” from Yuanta.
“I admitted that I had received a political donation of NT$20 million from Yuanta prior to the 2004 presidential election. My husband did not know about this and this was also the only money that I received from Yuanta,” Lee quoted Wu as saying in a statement. “I swear with my life that I did not get involved in the government’s financial reform.”
Tu was questioned and released on bail on Friday.
Chen and his family have been dogged by corruption scandals since 2006 and are being investigated on a series of related charges. Chen has been held incommunicado without charge since Nov. 12 on suspicion of embezzlement, taking bribes, forgery and money laundering during his two terms as president between 2000 and this year.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel yesterday said prosecutors had requested officials from the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the central bank to help identify evidence collected from Chen’s residence and office, adding that some prosecutors had begun to outline an indictment as they plan to close the investigation before the end of next month.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
RSS