Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday maintained his innocence during the first of three pre-trial hearings on charges of corruption and money laundering.
“I am totally innocent and there is absolutely no way I would accept such charges and insults,” Chen said.
The three-day pre-trial session at the Taipei District Court set the stage for the trial, which is expected to last for months.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The district court will summon other defendants, including Chen’s son and daughter-in-law, for pre-trial hearings today and tomorrow.
ADDITIONAL CHARGES
During the hearing, prosecutors charged Chen, who stands accused of four counts of corruption and money laundering, with additional charges of “extorting property and demanding donations using influence” and “profiteering” in a land procurement deal in Lungtan, Taoyuan County, in 2004.
The prosecutors said Chen used his influence as president to push the government to buy the land for a science park after his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), accepted bribes from the landowner.
Chen and Wu were indicted last month for accepting an estimated NT$300 million (US$8.9 million) in bribes in connection with the deal.
Chen said yesterday the addition of two charges reflected the fact that he was not guilty.
“Why did they need to add these two charges? It is because they know that the initial charges were too weak to convict me,” Chen said. “For the Lungtan case, I was actually trying to help boost the nation’s economy. How can that be called corruption?”
“No [other defendants] have ever named me as bribe recipient and I don’t know why I was charged with taking bribes,” he told the court.
The session, heard by Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) and judges Hsu Chien-hui (徐千惠) and Wu Ding-ya (吳定亞), began at 9:30am.
DEFENSE TEAM
Chen’s defense team — Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍), Hung Kuei-san and Shih Yi-ling (石宜琳) — yesterday said they had not been given sufficient time to prepare Chen’s defense.
Tsai later postponed the remaining part of yesterday’s hearing and a hearing scheduled for tomorrow to Feb. 24.
Chen, 58, was president from 2000 until May 2008. He has said he is a victim of political persecution by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Also charged in the same case are three of Chen’s former aides and eight other associates and relatives.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from