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Chao to be indicted soon

Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘), son-in-law of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), may soon be indicted on charges of insider trading and misappropriation of funds as investigators wind up their probe into the high-profile corruption scandal involving the trading of Taiwan Development Corp (TDC) stocks.

Investigation results were handed in yesterday morning to prosecutors at the Taipei District Court, who said Chao and six others will likely be indicted on charges of violating the securities exchange law, breach of trust and misappropriation of funds.

The other six are Chao's father, Chao Yu-chu (趙玉柱), who will probably be charged with insider trading and misappropriation of funds; Waterland Securities Co board member Tsai Ching-wen (蔡清文), TDC Chairman Su Teh-chien (蘇德建) and businessman You Shih-yi, who will each likely be charged with insider trading; and two managers of private companies, Chen Ching-yao (陳敬堯) and Hung Min-sen (洪敏森), who will likely be charged with breach of trust.

After more than a month of investigations, investigators have gained a clearer picture of the case and how the Chaos were involved in misappropriating funds and their complicated dealings with the political and business sectors involving huge amounts of money.

Judicial sources said that the Chaos' dealings with politicians and businesspeople may lead to more charges connected to other irregularities, such as influence peddling in connection with the appointments of senior managers in bank mergers and the awarding of public construction contracts, alleged crimes that will be the target of a "second-phase" of probing by investigators.

Prosecutor Hsu Yung-chin (許永欽), who is in charge of investigating the TDC insider trading case, said he has mapped out a chart indicating the flows of funds used in the buying and selling of TDC shares based on the bank accounts of Chao family members and their "business partners."

He said the "first-phase" investigations were coming to an end and that the prosecution may officially lay charges against all the suspects by early next month at the latest.

Investigators have found that Chao Chien-ming, Su and Tsai were the main suspects in the case. As Tsai has confessed almost everything to the investigative officials, his sentence will likely be reduced.

Prosecutors will likely request a heavier sentence for the president's son-in-law, who has denied any wrongdoing. The prosecution will also demand that the suspects pay back all of the illicit gains from their illegal dealings if they are found guilty.
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