Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife were convicted and sentenced to more years in prison yesterday on graft charges.
Chen was convicted of accepting NT$200 million (US$6.9 million) in bribes in connection with Yuanta Financial Holding Co’s (元大金控) merger with Fuhwa Financial Holding Co (復華金控) and sentenced to another 10 years, the Supreme Court said in a statement.
Chen, 62, is currently serving an 18-and-a-half year term for corruption and money-laundering.
By law, an individual can serve only a maximum of 20 years in prison unless a life term is imposed. A court will announce early next year how much Chen’s jail term will be extended by yesterday’s ruling.
Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) said one result of the ruling is that the government will now be able to ask the Swiss government to return the money which Chen’s family deposited in a Swiss bank.
The court said the money was paid to Chen as a bribe by Yuanta. The sum has been frozen by Swiss authorities since the scandal broke in 2008.
Chen’s wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), already sentenced to 19 years and two months on four convictions for charges including corruption and perjury, was sentenced to eight years in jail.
Chen’s defense attorney, Shih Yi-lin (石宜琳), said the Supreme Court still favored the argument that “the president played an influential role.”
“It is a very controversial stance in the legal field. It is also an expanded interpretation on the legal power and authority of the presidency,” Shih said, adding that he would consider whether to appeal the ruling.
Chen Shui-bian’s office issued a statement questioning whether the ruling was the result of “political interference” that aimed to disgrace Chen by rendering a verdict that was unconstitutional.
Saying the money came from political donations, Chen and Wu’ son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), accused the judiciary of being pliable when it came to dealing with his father.
Chen Shui-bian was detained in November 2008 on corruption charges stemming from his two terms as president between 2000 and 2008. He and members of his family have been accused of laundering millions of US dollars by sending political donations and secret diplomatic funds abroad, and taking kickbacks on government contracts.
Chen Shui-bian insists that the legal actions against him are a vendetta carried out by President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration (馬英九) in retaliation for promoting Taiwan’s independence from China during his years in office. The government rejects the allegations.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
RSS