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Ex-first couple and son named suspects

Chen Chun-ying, the wife of former president Chen Shui-bian’s brother-in-law, is rushed to hospital after she fainted during questioning by the Special Investigation Panel of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES

Prosecutors yesterday named former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), Chen’s son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), Chen’s daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) and Wu’s brother Wu Ching-mao (吳景茂) as the five main suspects in their investigation into money laundering.

Prosecutor Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮) said that prosecutors had summoned Wu Ching-mao and his wife Chen Chun-ying (陳俊英) for questioning on suspicion that their overseas accounts served as the depository for the funds the former first couple remitted out of the country.

However, the questioning came to an abrupt end at around 5pm when Chen Chun-ying passed out during the interview, Chu said.

Chen Chun-ying was sent to National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment.

Wu Ching-mao, who accompanied his wife to the hospital, told reporters that his wife tried to commit suicide by taking a number of sleeping pills because she felt had been “unfairly” treated during the interview.

“Prosecutors asked her [Chen Chun-ying] to admit doing things she did not do and refused her request to have lawyers present during the questioning.” — Wu Ching-mao, brother of former first lady Wu Shu-jen

“Prosecutors asked her to admit doing things she did not do and refused her request to have lawyers present during the questioning,” Wu Ching-mao said.

Chu said the interview of Chen Chun-ying was conducted in accordance with the law.

Chu said that Wu Ching-mao detailed to prosecutors the process they used to deposit or transfer money for the former first family over the years.

The prosecutor added that former state-owned China Steel Corp (中鋼) chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵) was also summoned for questioning yesterday morning as a witness.

Lin was in charge of Chen Shui-bian’s campaign funds during the 2000 presidential election.

Lin left the prosecutors’ office at 12pm.

Chu said prosecutors learned that Chen had four undisclosed bank accounts used for political donations for the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections — three for 2000 and one for 2004.

The former president admitted last Thursday that he failed to truthfully declare funds collected from two mayoral and two presidential elections between 1993 and 2004 and that his wife had wired surplus campaign contributions overseas.

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office announced on Saturday that Chen Shui-bian and Wu Ching-mao had been barred from leaving the country. Wu Shu-jen has been prohibited from leaving since May.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said yesterday it was cooperating with law enforcement authorities in several countries to probe Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) overseas accounts.

“The MOJ is expanding its legal assistance with several countries. The ministry not only has cooperated with Swiss authorities to investigate Chen’s accounts there, but it has also contacted Singapore, the US and other countries where the former first family had allegedly wired funds,” Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) told a press conference yesterday.

He said the ministry was determined to clear all bank accounts the former first family opened overseas and to retrieve the funds.

The deputy minister asked businesspeople who know where the Chen family’s money came from to report the matter to prosecutors, and prosecutors would handle them according to the Witness Protection Law (證人保護法) and grant them a NT$10 million (US$319,000) reward.

He also urged businesspeople involved in the scandal to come out and act as state witnesses.

Meanwhile, Taipei Prosecutor Ching Chi-jen (慶啟人), who traveled to Switzerland to trace the alleged Chen family funds, returned to the country on Sunday night.

“I offered legal documents involving Chen and the former first family to Swiss prosecutors to assist in their investigation into suspected money laundering, and I also expressed the hope that Switzerland would return the money to Taiwan,” Ching told reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

Huang said prosecutors were also investigating Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂), a former chief of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, on suspicion of concealing information about the suspected money laundering.

Prosecutors were still questioning Huang as of press time.

Prosecutors on Sunday asked immigration officials to notify them if they found Yeh trying to leave the country.

Yeh had said on Sunday that the bureau’s Money Laundering Prevention Center had received information from the Cayman Islands in late January that the former president’s daughter-in-law had a bank account there and that it was likely being used for money laundering.

In related news, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday it would not rule out filing suit if it found any trading irregularities in the auction of Changhwa Bank (彰化銀行) shares in 2005.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) has accused the former first family of taking bribes from Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) in exchange for Changhwa shares.

As a result of the auction, Taishin Financial won a majority of the seats on Changhwa Bank’s board, with a 22.5 percent stake, compared with the government’s 18 percent.

A high-ranking ministry official said on condition of anonymity that he believed investigators would soon ask the ministry for trading documents to see if there were any irregularities in the transaction.

“The ministry and failed bidders could lodge lawsuits if the auction turned out to be tainted,” the official told reporters. “It would be up to the court to settle the dispute. No one can predict the outcome.”

The official, however, said it was unlikely that the Changhwa deal would be invalidated.

“People who played unfairly would not be able to shake off their legal responsibility,” the official said. “They would be unfit to chair the company, but the company’s dealings would probably remain unaffected.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CRYSTAL HSU


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