The trial of the former head of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, on charges of withholding information on former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) possible involvement in money-laundering activities, began yesterday.
Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂), who stepped down from his post as bureau chief on July 16, was indicted on Aug. 28 on suspicion of concealing government documents containing a list of overseas bank accounts in the names of Chen family members.
Prosecutors said that Yeh was supposed to relay the information — which the bureau’s Anti-Money Laundering Center obtained on Jan. 27 from the international anti-money laundering Egmont Group — to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, but that the office never received the information.
Prosecutors also accused Yeh of failing to pass on information it had obtained about possible money-laundering by former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) to prosecutors in 2006.
Yeh’s trial at the Taipei District Court took place behind close-doors as it involves national security issues.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Yeh said he told the court he did not break the law because he had handed over those classified documents to Chen and had not concealed any official documents.
Chen’s office has said that the former president had received the two “pieces of intelligence” from Yeh, but that they were not documents.
In related news, the family of Chen’s daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching’s (黃睿靚), were questioned by prosecutors yesterday on suspicion that they served as dummy accounts for the Chen family’s money-laundering activities overseas.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) summoned Huang Jui-ching’s (黃睿靚) father Huang Bai-lu (黃百祿), her mother Wu Li-hua (吳麗華) and her younger brother Huang Han-chiang (黃漢強).
Wu Li Hua’s brother Wu Ching-mao (吳景茂) and his wife Chen Chun-ying (陳俊英) were also summoned for questioning yesterday.
Wu Ching-mao’s son Wu Tai-te (吳泰德), who is studying in the US, did not show up.
The five and two other witnesses left in the evening after the interviews.
SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) told a press conference that prosecutors summoned them on suspicion that their overseas accounts served as the depository for the funds the former first couple remitted out of the country, but he refused to detail the contents of the meeting.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS