Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) cracked jokes in court yesterday during her last appearance before a verdict is to be announced in September.
Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) scheduled yesterday’s court date to hear closing arguments from Wu, her lawyers and the prosecution.
She arrived at the Taipei District Court with a doctor and nurse from National Taiwan University Hospital, her caretaker and her son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中).
When Tsai asked whether she plead guilty or not guilty, Wu inquired whether she could have her lawyers answer.
Tsai instructed her to answer the question herself, and Wu said: “My answer is the same as before.”
When the trial started at the beginning of the year, Wu pleaded guilty to forgery and two of the three counts of money laundering.
She admitted to using fake receipts to gain reimbursements from the presidential “state affairs” fund, but denied embezzling money from the fund and other charges of taking bribes in connection with a land deal and a government construction project.
Wu was initially indicted with three of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) former aides on Nov. 3, 2006, for allegedly siphoning off NT$14.8 million (US$439,000) from the fund.
Yesterday, Tsai asked Wu why her children’s personal expenses, such as National Health Insurance premiums, were paid out of the presidential “state affairs fund.”
Wu said: “I let Chen Chen-hui [陳鎮慧, the former first family’s bookkeeper] take care of all that.”
Wu said she didn’t pay much attention to the books kept by Chen Chen-hui because she trusted her bookkeeper implicitly.
“[Chen Chen-hui] has been with us for a long time, I trust her,” Wu said. “I only look at the bottom line. I don’t pay attention to the detailed expenses.”
When asked about receipts that were used to claim reimbursements from the fund, Wu said she was told by Chen Chen-hui and the former aides that they had to use receipts to claim reimbursements because the rules regarding the fund had changed, and that her only job was to “collect receipts.”
“I told [my children] that if they had any receipts they should give them to me,” she said.
However, after allegations were leveled, “[my children] got scared when they saw receipts. They ripped them up,” she said.
Although Wu said she was so nervous her blood pressure rose, she answered many of Tsai’s questions in a light tone and often made jokes, evoking giggles from prosecutors and others in the courtroom.
She repeatedly said: “Women like to show off what they have bought” when Tsai asked how she knew about personal belongings her friends and relatives purchased, the receipts of which were later used to claim reimbursements.
In related news, Wu’s friend Tsai Ming-che (蔡銘哲) yesterday pleaded guilty during his closing defense.
Prosecutors allege that because Tsai was a close friend of the former first lady, he had easy access to the presidential residence. Prosecutors say Tsai helped the Chen family solicit bribes and lined his pockets with a portion of the money as part of a deal between the government-run Hsinchu Science Park and Dayu Development Corp.
Prosecutors yesterday asked the court to pass a lighter sentence on Tsai because he was a key witness and showed remorse for his crimes.
The court plans to hear closing arguments from the former president today.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
RSS