Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who has been detained since Dec. 30 ahead of his trial on money-laundering and corruption charges, will be held for another two months after March 26, the Taipei District Court ruled yesterday. The court also set a start date of March 17 for the trial.
Citing fears that Chen might collude with witnesses or try to abscond, the court extended his detention.
An aide at Chen’s office, who wished to remain anonymous, yesterday said the former president would appeal.
PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP
“Could it be that [the court] intends to keep Chen Shui-bian [at the Taipei Detention Center] until the first ruling is handed down?” the aide asked.
Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-shun (蔡守訓) said the trial would begin on March 17 and called the former president’s bookkeeper Chen Chen-hui (陳鎮慧) as the first witness.
Meanwhile, former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) appeared at a pre-trial hearing yesterday. The hearing was held to clarify witness statements and evidence and to schedule court dates with the defendants and prosecutors in her trial.
Wu’s lawyer Lin Chih-chung (林志忠) asked that the court arrange a meeting with Wu, Chen Chen-hui, former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), former Chen Shui-bian office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓), and former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒).
Tsai asked if Wu’s lawyers had enough time to examine the evidence in the money-laundering case, to which Lin suggested that tomorrow’s scheduled hearing be canceled because there was too much information to review.
Tsai agreed and announced that the next hearing would take place on March 12.
He also scheduled Ma and Lin Teh-hsun to testify in court on March 19; former director-general of the Presidential Office accounting department Fon Shui-lin (馮瑞麟) and accountant Chiu Chiung-hsien (邱瓊賢) to testify on March 31; accountants Lan Mei-ling (蘭梅玲) and Liang En-tzu (梁恩賜) on April 2; Koo on April 7; and former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) and former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) on April 9.
In related news, the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) said yesterday that the former first family’s physician Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥) had been listed as a defendant in the money-laundering case.
“Dr. Huang Fang-yen is suspected of violating the Money Laundering Control Act [洗錢防制法],” SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said.
Meanwhile, Koo boarded a plane to China yesterday morning. The purpose of his trip was not made public, but the SIP had been informed of his travel plans.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN AND CNA
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Wednesday said that a new chip manufacturing technology called “A16” is to enter production in the second half of 2026, setting up a showdown with longtime rival Intel over who can make the fastest chips. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of advanced computing chips and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, announced the news at a conference in Santa Clara, California, where TSMC executives said that makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chips will likely be the first adopters of the technology rather than a smartphone maker. Analysts said that the technologies announced on
A total of 41 US military personnel were stationed in Taiwan as of December last year, a US congressional report said on Friday last week ahead of Tuesday’s passage of an aid package that included US$8 billion for Taiwan. The Congressional Research Service in a report titled Taiwan Defense Issues for Congress said that according to the US Department of Defense’s Defense Manpower Data Center, 41 US military personnel were assigned for duty in Taiwan. Although the normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1979 included a vow to withdraw a military presence from Taiwan, “observers have indicated
NO RECIPROCITY: Taipei has called for cross-strait group travel to resume fully, but Beijing is only allowing people from its Fujian Province to travel to Matsu, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized an announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism that it would lift a travel ban to Taiwan only for residents of China’s Fujian Province, saying that the policy does not meet the principles of reciprocity and openness. Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan (饒權) yesterday morning told a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in a meeting in Beijing that the ministry would first allow Fujian residents to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu), adding that they would be able to travel to Taiwan proper directly once express ferry
CALL FOR DIALOGUE: The president-elect urged Beijing to engage with Taiwan’s ‘democratically elected and legitimate government’ to promote peace President-elect William Lai (賴清德) yesterday named the new heads of security and cross-strait affairs to take office after his inauguration on May 20, including National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to be the new defense minister and former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) as minister of foreign affairs. While Koo is to head the Ministry of National Defense and presidential aide Lin is to take over as minister of foreign affairs, Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) would be retained as the nation’s intelligence chief, continuing to serve as director-general of the National Security Bureau, Lai told a news conference in Taipei. Koo,