Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) said yesterday he would return NT$700 million (US$21 million) from his family’s Swiss bank accounts to Taiwan in the hope of securing his father’s release on bail.
Chen Chih-chung told a press conference that he wanted to end the perception that the Chen family is not cooperating with the authorities.
The move comes after Teng Chen-chiu (鄧振球), the presiding judge in the case, said on Friday that Chen and his family would have to remit the money to an account designated by the Special Investigation Division if Chen was to have any chance of being released on bail at his next detention review on April 23.
The former president’s wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), said earlier she hoped the money would be transferred to a third-party account.
Despite Chen Chih-chung having already signed the documents, it was unclear if the money would be returned to Taiwan before that date. Prosecutors are working with Swiss banking authorities to return the money.
Chen Shui-bian’s secretary Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘) told reporters yesterday after visiting his client at the Taipei Detention Center that despite her initial reservations, Wu had now agreed to wire the money to the prosecutors’ account.
On Friday, the Taiwan High Court announced that it would hear final arguments in the corruption case against the former president and his co-defendants today and deliver its verdict on June 11.
The Taipei District Court sentenced Chen Shui-bian and Wu to life in prison in September after handing down a guilty verdict in a first trial.
In addition to the life sentences, the pair were also found guilty of embezzlement and taking bribes totaling NT$800 million.
Chen Shui-bian was fined NT$200 million and had his civil rights annulled for life for violating the Punishment of Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and Criminal Code (刑法).
In the first trial, Wu was given a life sentence, fined NT$300 million and also had her civil rights annulled for life.
Chen Chih-chung was sentenced in September to two years and six months for his involvement in the money-laundering case and fined NT$150 million for helping his parents wire money overseas.
Chen Shui-bian’s daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) was sentenced to one year and eight months and fined NT$150 million on money laundering charges.
Chen Shui-bian was first detained on Nov. 12, 2008, and released on Dec. 13, 2008, following his indictment.
He was detained again on Dec. 30, 2008, after the Taipei District Court approved a request by prosecutors to take him back into custody and has remained in detention ever since.
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