The office of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday challenged State Public Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) to produce evidence to substantiate his claim that the former president and his family has hidden US$100 million (NT$3.3 billion) in Switzerland.
In a statement, the office said it suspected Chen Tsung-ming of committing malfeasance and that he was unfit for his job, adding that the Taipei District Court estimated that the former president and his family had laundered NT$560 million, not NT$3.3 billion as Chen Tsung-ming claimed.
“Why such a discrepancy? State Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming must produce solid evidence to prove this allegation,” the statement said. “The Special Investigation Panel [SIP] also owes the public an explanation as to whether it has once again concealed evidence and abused its power of detention.”
Chen has been in custody since December. He and his wife were sentenced to life in prison for graft, making them the first former first couple in the country’s history to be indicted and convicted.
The office issued the statement in response to a China Times report yesterday that said Chen Tsung-ming had confirmed during a legislative hearing on Wednesday that the SIP had requested last year that the Swiss judiciary freeze the assets of the former family, which were worth more than US$100 million.
The report claimed that the former president’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), mentioned the US$100 million in a statement recently issued by the office on his behalf.
The office yesterday said the previous statement it issued merely quoted the SIP, which suspected the first family of hiding US$100 million in Switzerland. However, it differed from the actual amount, the office said.
Expressing “strong protest and deep regret,” the office said the China Times story did not double check the facts before they printed the report, which it said was misleading.
Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) yesterday also issued a statement dismissing Chen Tsung-ming’s claim as “not conforming to the truth.”
Saying she found the allegation “hard to accept,” Wu said the NT$1.2 billion in the Swiss bank had been frozen and that not a single family member could access it.
“Legal inquiry must build the case on objective evidence,” the statement said. “Baseless ‘estimations’ distributed through mass media not only mislead the public but also is not fair to the Chen family.”
Wu said she had already made a clear account of the family’s overseas accounts in court and that the public could determine whether her son and daughter-in-law had done their best to wire the money back.
Meanwhile, the former president’s office yesterday requested that the Ministry of Justice and the SIP conduct a thorough inquest into the 319 election eve assassination attempt against Chen and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) after Chen Tsung-ming said on Wednesday that prosecutors had found “new problems that made the situation different.”
The former president has said on numerous occasions that he was a victim of the shooting and that he wanted to know the truth so that he could counter allegations that the whole incident was staged, his office said.
As the case was closed by then Tainan District Office chief prosecutor Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮), the office urged Chen Tsung-ming to explain to the public whether Chu had committed serious omissions during the investigation, as the finding of the case ran counter to Chen Tsung-ming’s claim.
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