Investigators from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office yesterday questioned former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to determine whether he illegally removed boxes of classified government documents from the Presidential Office when he left office in 2008.
Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), a spokesperson for Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID), said prosecutors summoned the former president from Taipei Prison yesterday morning for questioning.
However, since Chen Shui-bian said he had a stomachache and asked for the session to be held another day, prosecutors only spent one hour questioning him and examining documents with him.
Chen Hung-ta said the former president allegedly took some documents from the Presidential Office because he wanted to write a memoir after leaving office.
Chen Shui-bian’s attorney accompanied him throughout the questioning, the spokesperson said.
SID prosecutors raided the former president’s old office on Guanqian Road in Taipei and his new office on Taipei’s Linyi Street in September 2009 and seized about 60 boxes of files.
More than 10,000 documents among the files were preliminarily identified as “classified” materials after the SID verified them with the Presidential Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense.
The search went ahead after the Presidential Office took legal action to reclaim the documents, saying the former president would have breached security protocols and endangered national security if the boxes contained classified information.
Chen Shui-bian’s office had said the search was politically motivated.
Chen Shui-bian is serving a 17-and-a-half-year prison term on corruption charges and appealing another sentence for bribery.
Additional reporting by CNA
A tropical depression in waters east of the Philippines could develop into a tropical storm as soon as today and bring rainfall as it approaches, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, while issuing heat warnings for 14 cities and counties. Weather model simulations show that there are still considerable differences in the path that the tropical depression is projected to take. It might pass through the Bashi Channel to the South China Sea or turn northeast and move toward the sea south of Japan, CWA forecaster Yeh Chih-chun (葉致均) said, adding that the uncertainty of its movement is still high,
TAIWANESE INNOVATION: The ‘Seawool’ fabric generates about NT$200m a year, with the bulk of it sourced by clothing brands operating in Europe and the US Growing up on Taiwan’s west coast where mollusk farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function — a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called “Seawool.” Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin County used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes. “They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” the 42-year-old said at his factory in Tainan. “So I was
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
Discounted 72-hour Taipei Metro passes are to be offered to China Airlines passengers until Feb. 28 next year, the airline announced today. China Airlines passengers may present their boarding pass for a discount of up to 34 percent when buying a Taipei Metro 72-hour unlimited travel pass. The offer is available to international travelers on international flights bound for Taipei. Within seven days of arrival, travelers can present their boarding pass, passport and proof of flight payment at an EZfly counter in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport or Taoyuan MRT Taipei Main Station to obtain the discounted passes, the airline said. One 72-hour pass
RSS