Friday 14 November 2008

Questioning of Chen’s children may occur today

The children of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian are expected to be summoned for questioning as soon as today over their alleged roles in their father’s suspected money-laundering.

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Guanyu said...

Questioning of Chen’s children may occur today

Lawrence Chung in Taipei
14 November 2008

The children of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian are expected to be summoned for questioning as soon as today over their alleged roles in their father’s suspected money-laundering.

The latest development came as Mr Chen, former head of the Democratic Progressive Party, went on a hunger strike to protest against what he claimed was political persecution by Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou of the ruling Kuomintang.

It also came as the Taiwan High Court reissued a seven-year jail sentence given to his son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, for insider trading.

The special investigation taskforce under the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office issued three subpoenas yesterday to question Chen Chih-chung and Huang Jui-ching, son and daughter-in-law of Mr Chen, as well as his daughter, Chen Hsin-yu, Taiwanese media said.

Prosecutor Chen Yun-nan, spokesman for the taskforce, confirmed the delivery of the subpoenas to Chen Shui-bian’s residence in Taipei, but declined to say whether the three would be summoned for questioning today.

However, the media, quoting unnamed sources, said the questioning would be conducted today. The son and daughter-in-law are being probed over their alleged involvements in the high-profile US$21 million money-laundering scandal, in which Chen Shui-bian and his wife, Wu Shu-chen, are also implicated.

The scandal came to light in August after Swiss authorities detected unusual fund flows in the bank accounts of the two to the Cayman Islands. Chen Shui-bian later said the money had been wired to their accounts by his wife without his knowledge, but the fund merely consisted of leftover campaign donations.

The daughter, Chen Hsin-yu, was involved because Ms Wu had allegedly used her as a surrogate for her overseas funding activities.

It is not known when prosecutors would summon Wu, who is being tried on charges of embezzling NT$14.8 million (HK$3.4 million) in secret state funds, for questioning.

Chen Shui-bian was detained on Wednesday for alleged embezzlement, money-laundering and bribe-taking, but formal charges have not been filed.

He has stopped eating since the first day he was locked up at the Tucheng Detention Centre, centre officials said.

His lawyer, Cheng Wen-lung, said Mr Chen was protesting against what he believed was political persecution by Mr Ma, who “has co-operated with China to purge the ex-president in order to stop the pro-independence movement in Taiwan”.

But the latest opinion poll by the cable news network TVBS showed that only 15 per cent of people in Taiwan believed he had been politically persecuted, while 57 per cent thought he was locked up because of the corruption case.

An opinion poll by the United Daily News showed that 60 per cent supported the detention, and another by Apply Daily News showed 66.97 per cent support.

Chao was given a six-year jail term by the district court in 2006, and the high court increased the jail term to seven years after he appealed. He appealed again to the Supreme Court, which ordered a new hearing. That took place in September, and the high court reissued a seven-year jail term yesterday.

Chao can still appeal against the latest verdict.