Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday filed a lawsuit against four prosecutors of the Special Investigation Panel (SIP), accusing them of violating judicial neutrality while handling his pre-trial hearing.
Chen accused the four prosecutors — Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮), Wu Wen-chung (吳文忠), Lee Hai-lung (李海龍) and Yueh Fang-ju (越方如) — of abusing their authority while questioning defendants and witnesses and of extortion, solicitation and forgery.
“The SIP prosecutors abused their right to arrest Chen despite his innocence and to negotiate with Jeffrey Koo Jr [辜仲諒] in Japan although he is guilty,” Chen’s office said in a written statement.
Chen’s office said that prosecutors had detained him by soliciting the help of the former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co vice chairman after negotiations that allowed Koo to return to Taiwan a free man despite being a fugitive.
The office accused prosecutors of colluding with Koo to have him lie in his oral statement and later sign a transcription of his oral responses that deviated from what he had said.
Chen’s office called on the prosecutors to come clean over whether they had struck a deal with Koo to get him to testify.
The prosecutors should also explain their claim that former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and former Kaohsiung City mayor and vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) had not received money from Chen, even though the two had acknowledged accepting donations from him, Chen’s office said.
The statement accused the prosecutors of violating procedures in questioning defendants and witnesses with the goal of detaining Chen. The four prosecutors had damaged the judiciary’s credibility and should be punished, it said.
Chen has admitted that his wife wired US$20 million abroad from his campaign funds, but says she did so without his knowledge.
SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) yesterday said the former president was free to file a lawsuit.
“I will not comment on this,” he said.
Meanwhile, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) confirmed yesterday that Taipei had sought judicial help from Washington in probing Chen Shui-bian and his family.
“Taiwan’s law enforcement authorities have been in touch with US counterparts concerning tracking former president Chen’s funds in the United States,” AIT spokesman Thomas Hodges told AFP.
The US and Taiwan signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement in 2002 that “establishes a mechanism by which US and Taiwan law enforcement authorities may cooperate in obtaining and sharing relevant information and evidence,” he said.
Hodges declined to provide details. Chen Yun-nan also declined to comment.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP AND JIMMY CHUANG
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