The prosecutors in the cases against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said they would investigate several co-defendants and witnesses on suspicion of perjury or being accomplices in crimes linked to the former first family.
On Sept. 11, the Taipei District Court found Chen and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) guilty of corruption, forgery, embezzlement, money laundering and other crimes and sentenced them to life in prison and fines totaling NT$500 million (US$16 million).
INVESTIGATION
When it handed down its judgment, the district court also asked the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office to investigate several co-defendants and witnesses on suspicion of participation in additional crimes.
Among those listed, Chen’s son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), his daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) and her husband Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘) were named as possible accomplices in embezzlement by the former first couple. Judges suspect them for giving Wu receipts for their personal expenses, allegedly to collect reimbursements from the presidential “state affairs fund.”
District judges also requested an investigation into whether former deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) and former Presidential Office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓) committed perjury when questioned about the state affairs fund.
Lin is also suspected of asking the former first family’s bookkeeper Chen Chen-hui (陳鎮慧) to give false testimony when put on the stand.
Ma and Lin were found guilty by the district court of helping the former first family embezzle money from public funds and were sentenced to 20 years and 16 years respectively. Their civil rights were suspended for 10 and eight years respectively.
AIT DIRECTOR
In related news, a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday criticized American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director William Stanton after Stanton allegedly expressed concerns about the trial of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) claimed Stanton was trying to save the former president because Stanton had a “secret agreement” with Chen Shui-bian. Lo did not elaborate or present evidence to back her claim.
“Who are you, Stanton? Are you Taiwan’s leader or commander-in-chief? How can you interfere in Taiwan’s internal affairs?” Lo told reporters, adding that Chen Shui-bian’s trial was not Stanton’s concern.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) questioned the appropriateness of Stanton allegedly commenting on the case.
The legislators’ remarks came after Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) told reporters after Stanton’s visit on Wednesday that Stanton had said that “people overseas had some different thoughts” on Chen Shui-bian’s trial.
Wang said she told Stanton that the judiciary had been transparent, fair and just in handling Chen Shui-bian’s case. The judiciary is willing to talk to any US academics who have concerns, she said.
During the meeting, Wang also called on the US government to assist Taiwan with the return of 75 Taiwanese fugitives in the US.
UPSET
KMT Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee accused Stanton of seeking to meddle in the judiciary.
“We need to have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs look into this and express our stance on the issue to the US,” Chang said.
At a separate setting yesterday, Wang said Stanton had not “interfered with” Chen Shui-bian’s trial.
“Stanton was saying that some foreign press and experts had different views [of the case],” Wang said when approached by reporters at the KMT headquarters.
“Stanton was only giving us a reminder and stating the truth. There is no interference,” she said.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and flora wang
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a