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Chen safe held US$32m: bookkeeper

Former president Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) bookkeeper, Chen Chen-hui (陳鎮慧), said yesterday she was never instructed by Chen Shui-bian to wire money from the “state affairs fund” to overseas bank accounts.

Chen Chen-hui made the remarks in court yesterday as she testified on her handling of the former first family's finances in Chen Shui-bian's trial for alleged embezzlement of the presidential “state affairs fund.”

She appeared as a defense witness.

She told the court that in addition to keeping books, she sometimes ran errands for former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍).

She said Wu would sometimes ask her to put money into a safe at the Cathay United Bank, but she did not know where the money came from — Wu only told her it was election campaign funds donated by others. The amount of money in the safe reached NT$1.1 billion (US$32 million) at one point, she said.

“I was only following orders,” she said.

She would usually get a call at the last minute from Wu, who would tell her to go to the presidential residence for instructions about making money transactions, she said.

Asked by Chen Shui-bian yesterday whether he had ever instructed her to produce false reports of lists of office personnel to receive cash awards, she said “no.”

The list was a method used by former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) and other aides to get around new accounting rules.

Ma told the Taipei District Court last week that after 2002, changes in accounting regulations made use of the “state affairs fund” less flexible, so aides used the list to file applications for reimbursements.

Prosecutors allege that more than NT$27 million was withdrawn from the fund through the use of “inappropriate receipts” to claim reimbursements.

Chen Shui-bian and his wife have denied that any of the money was used for their family's personal expenses.
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