Prosecutors yesterday placed Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), the daughter of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), on travel restrictions, saying she would have to notify authorities if she planned to leave the country.
On Wednesday, Chen Hsing-yu was charged with giving false testimony during investigations into the former first family for corruption and money laundering over the past two years.
Diana Chen (陳敏薰), former chairwoman of Taipei 101, was also indicted on Wednesday for giving false testimony.
The Special Investigation Division under the Supreme Prosecutors Office said Chen Hsing-yu lied when she said she did not deliver a check for NT$10 million (US$307,500) under the name of a friend to former first lady Wu Shu-jen's (吳淑珍) brother — Wu Ching-mao (吳景茂) — in 2004.
The money was transferred into several overseas bank accounts before ending up in a Swiss bank account jointly owned by Chen Shui-bian's son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), and his daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚).
Wu Shu-jen was first indicted on Nov. 3, 2006 for claiming reimbursements totaling NT$14.8 million from her husband's special “state affairs fund” using invoices she took from other people.
Soon after he left office last year, Chen Shui-bian, along with his wife and 13 former aides, officials and family members, were charged with taking NT$490 million in bribes during his eight years in office. Held at the Taipei Detention Center since Dec. 30, Chen has denied all the charges.
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
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
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
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