The trial of the former head of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, on charges of withholding information on former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) possible involvement in money-laundering activities, began yesterday.
Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂), who stepped down from his post as bureau chief on July 16, was indicted on Aug. 28 on suspicion of concealing government documents containing a list of overseas bank accounts in the names of Chen family members.
Prosecutors said that Yeh was supposed to relay the information — which the bureau’s Anti-Money Laundering Center obtained on Jan. 27 from the international anti-money laundering Egmont Group — to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, but that the office never received the information.
Prosecutors also accused Yeh of failing to pass on information it had obtained about possible money-laundering by former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) to prosecutors in 2006.
Yeh’s trial at the Taipei District Court took place behind close-doors as it involves national security issues.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Yeh said he told the court he did not break the law because he had handed over those classified documents to Chen and had not concealed any official documents.
Chen’s office has said that the former president had received the two “pieces of intelligence” from Yeh, but that they were not documents.
In related news, the family of Chen’s daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching’s (黃睿靚), were questioned by prosecutors yesterday on suspicion that they served as dummy accounts for the Chen family’s money-laundering activities overseas.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) summoned Huang Jui-ching’s (黃睿靚) father Huang Bai-lu (黃百祿), her mother Wu Li-hua (吳麗華) and her younger brother Huang Han-chiang (黃漢強).
Wu Li Hua’s brother Wu Ching-mao (吳景茂) and his wife Chen Chun-ying (陳俊英) were also summoned for questioning yesterday.
Wu Ching-mao’s son Wu Tai-te (吳泰德), who is studying in the US, did not show up.
The five and two other witnesses left in the evening after the interviews.
SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) told a press conference that prosecutors summoned them on suspicion that their overseas accounts served as the depository for the funds the former first couple remitted out of the country, but he refused to detail the contents of the meeting.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56