Former aides to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday denied any wrongdoing in connection with the presidential “state affairs fund” at the last session of their trial before the verdict is announced in September.
Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) scheduled yesterday’s court date to hear closing arguments from former Presidential Office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓), former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), their attorneys and the prosecution.
The two former aides stand accused of helping Chen embezzle money from the fund while he was in office.
Prosecutors said Ma and Lin exploited the fact that they were trusted by the former president and the Presidential Office’s accounting department.
They were fully aware they were helping the former president embezzle funds using various tricks, prosecutors said, including approving reimbursements of the former first family’s personal expenses with inappropriate receipts and making false lists of government employees to receive monetary rewards.
In reality, the cash went into the Chen family’s pockets, prosecutors said.
The two aides and their lawyers said they were unaware that the presidential fund was being used for inappropriate purposes, adding that the reimbursement system was flawed.
Prosecutors said the former aides and Chen had clearly been aware that they were committing crimes because otherwise they would not have destroyed documents to cover their actions.
Prosecutors accused Ma and Lin of flouting the law and having “only Chen’s interests in mind.”
Earlier, the former president said during his last day at trial on Tuesday that the accusations against him were “unbearably heavy.”
Having stayed silent throughout most of the day on Tuesday to protest what he calls an unfair judicial system, the former president finally began to speak at about 10pm.
He said that the public had been witness to his historical trial and that even if he were convicted: “I want to make my mark on history and let everyone know how I died.”
Chen said the entire trial — including the switching of judges and his being detained since December — had been unfair and politically motivated.
In December last year, a panel of judges ordered that the presiding judge in Chen’s case, Chou Chan-chun (周占春), be replaced by Tsai, who would preside over all of Chen’s cases, which were merged.
The switch was controversial, with some claiming it was politically motivated and had violated judicial procedures.
Chen said he recognized that his family’s way of “handling money” had not met the highest moral standards and political expectations, and apologized to the public.
The former president said he was willing to wire back all the money sent to overseas accounts and donate it to charity.
The last day of Chen’s first trial ended at about 1:30am yesterday.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and