Diana Chen (陳敏薰), former chairwoman of Taipei Financial Center Co, yesterday said she was misunderstood when she gave testimony regarding former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) corruption charges.
Taipei District prosecutors yesterday called Diana Chen to question her on perjury charges. Prosecutors allege she purposely gave false testimony during questioning last year about the former first family’s alleged money laundering activities. Earlier this month, the prosecutors listed the former chairwoman, who had previously been a witness, as a defendant.
TV footage showed Diana Chen smiling as she walked into the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office.
Diana Chen told prosecutors that when she gave her testimony, she was too nervous and therefore may have been misunderstood, leading prosecutors to conclude she was purposely contradicting her own testimony.
Soon after district prosecutors listed her as a defendant, they imposed travel restrictions, which required her to notify authorities if she planned to leave the country.
Diana Chen’s lawyer, Sung Chung-ho (宋重和), yesterday asked prosecutors to lift the travel restrictions, saying that Diana Chen often needed to travel overseas and that such restrictions would seriously affect her plans and schedules.
In response, the prosecution said that if the defendant had appropriate reasons to go overseas, her lawyer could file a request. If her travel plans did not affect investigative procedures, she would not be prohibited from leaving the country, prosecutors said.
Aside from Diana Chen, former president Chen Shui-bian’s daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and son-in-law Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘) were also listed as perjury defendants on June 3.
In related news, Chen Chih-chung’s lawyer yesterday rebutted media reports that his client’s property assets in the US had recently been frozen.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday reported that two US mansions under Chen Chih-chung’s name were recently frozen, and that Chen Chih-chung and his wife Huang Jui-ching’s (黃睿靚) US visas had been voided by the American Institute in Taiwan.
Yeh Ta-hui (葉大慧), Chen Chih-chung’s lawyer, rebutted the reports, saying the property had been frozen long ago along with Chen Chih-chung’s Swiss bank accounts.
Responding to allegations that Chen Chih-chung had yet to wire money back to Taiwan from his Swiss accounts, Yeh said that as the case required judicial mutual assistance, more procedures may be needed, “causing some miscommunication to take place.”
Yeh also rebutted reports that the couple’s US visas had been voided.
Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南), spokesperson for the Special Investigation Panel of the Supreme Prosecutors Office, yesterday confirmed that Chen Chih-chung had yet to wire any money from his overseas accounts back to Taiwan.
The couple had previously promised to wire NT$570 million (US$16.8 million) from Swiss bank accounts back to Taiwan so they could enter plea negotiations with the prosecution.
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