Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was indicted on a money laundering charge yesterday, less than three weeks after being released on medical parole from prison, where he was serving a lengthy sentence for corruption.
In its indictment, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office alleged that after Chen Shui-bian took a bribe of NT$10 million (US$318,000) from former Taipei Financial Center Corp chairwoman Diana Chen (陳敏薰) to help her secure an appointment at a securities firm, the president was involved in laundering the money.
Chen Shui-bian was found guilty of taking the bribe by the Supreme Court in November 2010 and was sentenced to eight years in prison. His wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), was given a similar penalty for the same offense.
Wu was then found guilty of laundering the bribe through her brother and was sentenced to 14 months in jail, later reduced to seven months.
Because of Wu’s role in laundering the money, the judge in charge of her case suspected Chen Shui-bian was also involved, and sent the case to prosecutors for further investigation.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office has since questioned Chen Shui-bian about the allegations and asked the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office to further question Wu.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office subpoenaed Wu twice, but the wheelchair-bound former first lady did not show up either time because of poor health.
Taipei prosecutors said they had solid evidence proving the former president’s involvement in the case, but as of yesterday afternoon, they had not released the indictment or provided a summary outlining the evidence backing their case.
Chen Shui-bian is also still facing legal proceedings related to a reform program to consolidate the financial sector initiated during his first term as president from 2000 to 2004.
Several bankers allegedly bribed the former first family in exchange for Chen Shui-bian’s help in acquiring other banks.
The former president has already been sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison and fined NT$250 million in a series of corruption cases that surfaced shortly after his second term ended in May 2008.
DIPLOMATIC MOVES: Beijing is reportedly pressing the state after reports of forming links with Taiwan, while the ministry is also planning to reopen its office in Guam soon A representative office is set to open in Somaliland at the end of this month, at the earliest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday amid reports that Beijing is sending a diplomatic delegation to the east African country. The ministry on July 1 announced that Taiwan and Somaliland would establish representative offices, following a report by the Somaliland Chronicle Web site. It said at the time that the two nations did not plan to establish formal ties. Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi has instructed close confidants to explore the possibility of “mutual recognition between Taiwan and Somaliland,” the Somaliland Chronicle reported
‘IMMORAL, INSINCERE’: Huang Kun-huei said that Ma was ‘distorting history’ in claiming that Lee Teng-hui laid the foundation for the so-called ‘1992 consensus’ Former Presidential Office secretary-general Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) on Saturday rejected former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) claim that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had been a proponent of Beijing’s “one China” principle. Lee, who served as president from 1988 to 2000, died in Taipei on Thursday last week. After visiting the Taipei Guest House on Saturday to pay his respects to Lee, Ma posted on Facebook that “28 years ago on this day” Lee hosted a session of the now-defunct National Unification Council, during which he passed a resolution on the “one China” principle. That resolution became the basis of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s
NEW ERA: Taiwan, which has controlled its virus outbreak, now faces the challenge of safely resuming economic exchanges with other nations, Chang Shan-chwen said People should not focus entirely on having zero new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Taiwan, but neglect overall control over the disease situation, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) specialist advisory panel convener Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said yesterday. Chang made the remark at a forum in Taipei discussing the steps Taiwan should take in the post-pandemic era, organized by the Chinese-language magazine Global Views Monthly. Chang, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), and Stanford University’s Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention director C. Jason Wang (王智弘) each made a presentation, followed by a panel discussion with Chang, Wang and Buddhist Tzu
A Belgian man who tested positive for COVID-19 in Taiwan last week is likely to have contracted the disease in Taipei in late June, National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Public Health vice dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday reported that the man, who is in his 20s, came to Taiwan for work on May 3 and tested positive on Wednesday last week as he was about to depart. The man in March reported loss of taste and smell, the center said, adding that he worked in Changhua County, but visited Taipei several times,
RSS