Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday filed a lawsuit against four prosecutors of the Special Investigation Panel (SIP), accusing them of violating judicial neutrality while handling his pre-trial hearing.
Chen accused the four prosecutors — Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮), Wu Wen-chung (吳文忠), Lee Hai-lung (李海龍) and Yueh Fang-ju (越方如) — of abusing their authority while questioning defendants and witnesses and of extortion, solicitation and forgery.
“The SIP prosecutors abused their right to arrest Chen despite his innocence and to negotiate with Jeffrey Koo Jr [辜仲諒] in Japan although he is guilty,” Chen’s office said in a written statement.
Chen’s office said that prosecutors had detained him by soliciting the help of the former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co vice chairman after negotiations that allowed Koo to return to Taiwan a free man despite being a fugitive.
The office accused prosecutors of colluding with Koo to have him lie in his oral statement and later sign a transcription of his oral responses that deviated from what he had said.
Chen’s office called on the prosecutors to come clean over whether they had struck a deal with Koo to get him to testify.
The prosecutors should also explain their claim that former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and former Kaohsiung City mayor and vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) had not received money from Chen, even though the two had acknowledged accepting donations from him, Chen’s office said.
The statement accused the prosecutors of violating procedures in questioning defendants and witnesses with the goal of detaining Chen. The four prosecutors had damaged the judiciary’s credibility and should be punished, it said.
Chen has admitted that his wife wired US$20 million abroad from his campaign funds, but says she did so without his knowledge.
SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) yesterday said the former president was free to file a lawsuit.
“I will not comment on this,” he said.
Meanwhile, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) confirmed yesterday that Taipei had sought judicial help from Washington in probing Chen Shui-bian and his family.
“Taiwan’s law enforcement authorities have been in touch with US counterparts concerning tracking former president Chen’s funds in the United States,” AIT spokesman Thomas Hodges told AFP.
The US and Taiwan signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement in 2002 that “establishes a mechanism by which US and Taiwan law enforcement authorities may cooperate in obtaining and sharing relevant information and evidence,” he said.
Hodges declined to provide details. Chen Yun-nan also declined to comment.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP AND JIMMY CHUANG
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique