The Taiwan High Court yesterday ordered the Taipei District Court to reconsider its Dec. 18 decision to release former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) pending trial on corruption and money laundering charges. Following the ruling, a hearing will be held this afternoon to decide whether or not Chen will be detained.
The high court made the order at 1:50am yesterday following an appeal filed by the Supreme Prosecutors Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) on Thursday against the Taiwan District Court’s previous decision to release Chen.
High court spokesman Wen Yao-yuan (溫耀源) told reporters that the decision by the lower district court was “a violation of justice. Therefore the high court decided to retract the ruling.”
“The Taipei District Court’s ruling disregarded evidence provided by the prosecutors who warned that the defendant could collude with other suspects and flee the country,” Wen said.
In the appeal presented to the Taiwan High Court, the prosecutors said they would soon begin investigating several other corruption cases allegedly involving Chen and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), and that if he were allowed to remain free, some of the witnesses, including three of his former close aides, might withold information.
It was the second time the SIP succeeded in having the Taiwan High Court throw out the Taipei District Court’s decision. The first time was when the SIP filed an appeal with the high court on Dec. 17 in which the latter ordered the district court to reconsider the release. The district court upheld its decision in its second ruling on Dec. 18, which led to the SIP’s second appeal on Thursday.
Chen was detained on Nov. 12 and indicted on Dec. 12 on charges of embezzling government funds, money laundering and forgery related to four cases along with 13 others, including his wife, son and daughter-in-law.
Chen has repeatedly said the charges against him were politically motivated, accusing the China-friendly government of his successor, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), of leading a witchhunt.
SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) told reporters yesterday that “the SIP appreciated the high court’s ruling and prosecutors were working hard for tomorrow’s [today] hearing.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) yesterday said the fact that the high court overruled the district court’s previous decision to release Chen without bail while asking it to reconsider its decision “is a slap in the face to [Presiding] Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) because the high court rebutted every reason why Chou believed the former president should be freed.”
KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) urged the district court “to carefully assign” another judge to preside over Chen’s trials so that the public would not question the impartiality of the court.
Tsai Shou-hsun(蔡守訓)was voted to replace Presiding Judge Chou to handle Chen-related cases during a meeting held among the district court’s presiding judges on Thursday night, citing that Tsai had previously handled cases concerning Chen.
As a result, today’s hearing will be presided over by Tsai not Chou.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND CNA
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
PLAN: Nations would receive US$5m a year if they could advance Taiwan’s international participation, diversify supply chains away from China or counter Beijing’s influence The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill that would approve US$120 million to be spent on supporting Taiwan’s international space and tackling coercion by China. The bipartisan legislation — the Taiwan Allies Fund Act — was proposed ahead of the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20. The committee said in a statement that the bill “strengthens Taiwan’s global network of friends by authorizing [US]$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID [US Agency