The Taiwan High Court will hand down a ruling before former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) current extension expires on Oct. 18 on whether Chen will remain detained for two more months.
Chen has been held since Dec. 30, 2008, in connection with corruption and money laundering charges. His detention was previously extended for three months in July.
A hearing was held on Friday on whether to further extend Chen’s detention. Chen said in the hearing that he has been detained for 674 days and has said “all he has to say.”
One should not assume that he has the ability to flee the country just because he has been president, he added.
Chen said that presiding judge Teng Chen-chiu (鄧振球) had said that if he remitted all the money his family held overseas back to Taiwan, there would be a good chance of him being released.
The former president said that he had remitted all US$18.43 million back. The amount fell short of the US$21 million the prosecution alleged his family had laundered through Swiss banks because of losses including processing fees and charges for the early termination of investment contracts.
“If the judge still won’t release me on bail now that I’ve returned the money, is he cheating me?” Chen asked.
After the hearing, Chen returned to the Taipei Detention Center.
Chen and his wife former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) were found guilty of corruption, forgery and money-laundering in September last year and given life sentences. The Taiwan High Court reduced the sentences to 20 years on June 11.
Chen, his wife and the Supreme Prosecutor Office’s Special Investigation Panel, which led the probe into the former president’s cases, all appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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