Prosecutors in charge of investigating former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) corruption cases said they were looking into other counts of money laundering and corruption, which could soon result in more indictments against the former president.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP), in charge of investigating Chen’s case, said they were still in the process of gathering evidence on cases involving the second financial reform and classified diplomatic projects. They were investigating whether more people may have been involved in helping the former president and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) launder money, the office said.
Chen is suspected of accepting NT$200 million (US$6.1 million) in bribes related to Yuanta Financial Holding’s (元大金控) merger with Fuhwa Financial Holding Co (復華金控), the nation’s then 11th-largest financial group by assets in April 2007. He is also suspected of accepting another NT$340 million from former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) in connection with Chinatrust’s failed takeover bid of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控).
Prosecutors are still investigating other unnamed businesspeople, who are suspected of bribing the former first couple as a form of “protection” during the second financial reform.
While several co-defendants, including Chen’s son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), were convicted on Friday for helping Chen Shui-bian launder money to overseas bank accounts, others are still being probed for alleged money laundering activities. These include the former president’s family physician, Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥), Yuanta Financial Holding Co president Victor Ma (馬維建) and Yuanta Financial Holding Co chief operating officer Michael Ma (馬維辰), all of whom are accused of helping Wu transfer illegal funds overseas.
Huang Fang-yen is suspected of helping the former first family launder money through the purchase of real estate at the Baolai Garden Plaza in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) for NT$60 million and hiding the former first lady’s jewelry and diamonds at his residence.
Prosecutors said they were still tracking NT$220 million.
After the scandal involving the former first family broke, Huang Fang-yen fled the country and is believed to be hiding in the US, where his family lives. He left for the US in November before prosecutors could question him about allegations that he helped Wu launder money.
In the classified diplomatic projects case, prosecutors have listed former deputy foreign minister Michael Kau (高英茂) as a defendant for allegedly helping former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) embezzle funds in the guise of diplomatic projects.
Chiou left the Democratic Progressive Party in May last year and retired from politics to shoulder responsibility following a diplomatic scandal in which US$30 million in funds intended for the establishment of diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea disappeared.
In related developments, the 1,500 pages from Friday’s ruling were delivered on Saturday to the former president at the Taipei Detention Center in Tucheng (土城), where he has been incarcerated since Dec. 30.
He has 10 days to file an appeal with the High Court, where judges may soon hold a detention hearing, as his current term of detention will expire on Sept. 25. He has denied the charges and lambasted the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for what he calls its political vendetta against him.
Meanwhile, police yesterday said they had stepped up security for the three judges who sentenced Chen Shui-bian to life in jail after one of them reported receiving a death threat.
TV footage showed two police officers, one carrying an automatic weapon, guarding the building in which Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) lives.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
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