Citing insufficient proof, the Tapei District Court yesterday acquitted former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), of charges that they laundered money and took bribes from bankers in exchange for help manipulating bank mergers.
Nineteen co-defendants were also cleared of charges of money laundering, breach of trust and insider trading because of a lack of proof, Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) said yesterday afternoon.
Special Investigation Panel (SIP) prosecutors in December last year charged the defendants, alleging that the bankers bribed the former president into pressuring the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to approve mergers during the second phase of financial reforms by the Chen administration aimed at encouraging consolidation of the banking sector.
Chou said in the ruling that according to Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例), a public official violates the law by taking bribes in exchange for decisions or policies in favor of the bribers, but according to the Constitution, the president’s duties do not include policies on bank mergers, so Chen was unable to receive money from banks to help their merger proposals.
Prosecutors had alleged that Chen and his wife took NT$600 million (US$19 million) from Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and NT$200 million from Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券) as a “payment” to ensure the financial groups’ acquisitions of smaller financial institutions went smoothly.
During the trial that began in February, Chen repeatedly insisted on his innocence, saying that the money was taken by his wife without his knowledge or the knowledge of his children.
Wu said the funds she collected were not bribes, but campaign donations.
The ruling said that although Chen received the money, he was unable to use his presidential authority to decide merger plans and as such, the money should be seen as a political donation.
Chou’s ruling added that since the money the Chen family received was not a bribe, bank officials who later helped the family transfer the funds overseas therefore did not violate money laundering rules, because money laundering only takes place when transferring money resulting from crime or corruption.
As such, Chen’s daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), his son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), and his daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), were also found not guilty of laundering money, as were Wu’s elder brother, Wu Ching-mao (吳景茂), and his wife, Chen Chun-ying (陳俊英).
The accused business executives, including Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) founder Rudy Ma (馬志玲), former Yuanta Securities Co board member Tu Li-ping (杜麗萍) and chairwoman Judy Tu (杜麗莊), former China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) president Angelo Koo (辜仲瑩) and Cathay Financial Holdings Co vice chairman Tsai Chen-yu (蔡鎮宇) were also found not guilty.
Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), a former top aide to Chen Shui-bian, was found not guilty of charges that he conspired with the former first couple to take bribes, while former presidential adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) was also cleared in the court’s ruling.
Chen Shui-bian, currently appealing a 20-year jail sentence for multiple counts of corruption in a separate trial, has previously said that the legal action against him is a vendetta carried out by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government in retaliation for his pro-independence stance during his 2000 to 2008 presidential term.
Lawyer Cheng Wen-long (鄭文龍) told reporters that the former president found the ruling comforting.
SIP Spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) said the “verdict is against the public’s concept of the law” and that prosecutors would appeal to the Taiwan High Court.
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
RSS