Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) said yesterday he had tried everything possible to wire the money connected to the corruption allegations leveled at his family back to Taiwan, rebutting recent comments by Swiss authorities who said no such requests have been received.
On Saturday, Folco Galli, spokesperson for the Swiss Justice Ministry, said the ministry had not received any requests from Chen Chih-chung or members of his family to wire funds the Chen family kept overseas back to Taiwan.
Galli confirmed that last year, Taiwanese prosecutors requested judicial mutual assistance from Swiss prosecution authorities, but declined to comment further on specifics regarding the bank accounts. Contrary to Taiwanese prosecutors’ claims that they asked Swiss authorities to unfreeze the funds and wire them back to Taiwan, Galli also said Taiwanese prosecutors had not submitted any requests to wire the funds back to Taiwan.
As of yet, none of the money has been remitted.
When the former president’s corruption and money laundering cases were still being tried at the Taipei District Court, Chen Chih-chung and his wife Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) had promised to wire about NT$1.2 billion (US$36.6 million) in Swiss bank accounts belonging to the family and paper companies to Taiwan as part of conditions to enter plea-bargaining.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) prosecutors had charged the young couple with money laundering for helping to wire funds overseas and establish paper companies with the intent of laundering the funds. Although Chen Chih-chung and his wife confessed to the charges against them to enter plea-bargaining and request leniency during sentencing, they had repeatedly emphasized they were only following instructions from Chen Chih-chung’s mother, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍).
Yeh Ta-hui (葉大慧), a lawyer for the couple, rebutted Galli’s comments. He said Chen Chih-chung and his wife had asked the SIP and Swiss authorities to wire the funds to Taiwan, and their willingness to return the money never changed.
Chen Chih-chung submitted documents to the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s office, not the Swiss Justice Ministry, Yeh said.
In response to Galli’s comments, SIP spokesperson Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) only said prosecutors had requested judicial assistance from Swiss authorities, but declined to elaborate.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS