It was a dramatic fall from grace for the man once called the “Son of Taiwan.” Former President Chen Shui-bian and First Lady Wu Shu-chen were sentenced to life in prison by the Taipei District Court on Friday, nine years after Chen became the first politician from Taiwan’s long-time opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to take the island’s top post. Chen, 58, and his wife were both charged with embezzlement, bribery, money laundering and forgery and fined $15.3 million for their mishandling of a special state fund and land deals. Chen’s son was also sentenced to two-and-a-half years for money laundering, and his daughter-in-law to one year and eight months.

[...] Chen was the first politician in Taiwan to work his way up from poverty to the country’s highest office. Before entering politics, he was a maritime lawyer who defended Taiwan’s democracy activists. After Taiwan formed its first opposition party, the DPP, in 1986, he was the first DPP politician to be elected president. During his two terms as president from 2000-2008, he promoted greater autonomy from China for the self-ruling island, but never declared de jure independence. In remarks published Thursday in Neo Formosa Weekly, a pro-independence web magazine, Chen asserted that now is the best time to declare independence.

It’s not a very likely prospect. Taiwan’s current President Ma Ying-jeou’s friendly policy towards China has been a big contrast from Chen, who was often deemed a troublemaker. Since coming to office last May, Ma has forged closer economic ties with China through establishing direct transportation and opening up tourism and investment to the Chinese.

Read a report from China Daily.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Taiwan’s defiant former president went on trial on corruption charges Thursday after angrily proclaiming that the new government is persecuting him to curry favor with rival China.

Chen Shui-bian, 58, faces possible life imprisonment if convicted on charges of embezzling 104 million New Taiwan dollars ($3.12 million) from a special presidential fund, receiving bribes worth at least $9 million in connection with a government land deal and laundering part of the funds by wiring the money to Swiss bank accounts.

He has repeatedly denied the charges, saying the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou is out to get him for his anti-China views.

There is also concern over the fairness of the case. From Michael Wines of the New York Times:

Although the evidence against Mr. Chen is strong, some analysts say the government’s handling of the case has been less than deft. Prosecutors were criticized after they participated in a skit before Justice Ministry officials that clearly mocked Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen has won sympathy by claiming that his detention without bail — and, at first, without any contact with his family — has been unjustly harsh.

J. Bruce Jacobs, a Taiwan scholar at Monash University in Australia, is among about 20 experts who sent letters to Taiwan’s justice minister and President Ma raising concerns about the fairness of the prosecution.

“The prosecutors have been going a bit wild, and how this trial is conducted will be critical,” he said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “This is an important landmark in Taiwan’s whole process of democratization.”

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Former Taiwan president and anti-China firebrand Chen Shui-bian was indicted on Friday in connection with a series of corruption-related scandals involving himself and family members.

Prosecutors said they would recommend the heaviest sentence possible on charges of graft, forgery and money laundering.

The charges were the first filed against Chen since his November 12 arrest when he was detained. No other former Taiwan president has faced criminal prosecution.

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The detention of the defiant nationalist comes amid a warming trend in cross-strait relations under the current, China-friendly president Ma Ying-jeou. Last week China and Taiwan signed another raft of economic agreements during a visit by a top Chinese negotiator, though the visit was marred by violent anti-China protests here.

While Chen has not been charged with any crime, he is suspected of embezzling millions in public funds while he was president, and laundering that money by wiring it to foreign bank accounts. Two of his key aides and others have been detained without charge in the case, and his wife is also a suspect.

The ex-president has admitted that his wife wired $20 million to foreign bank accounts, but denies any wrongdoing. He claimed in an August press conference that the money was leftover campaign donations, that he didn’t know about his wife’s massive wire transfers until early this year, and that when he learned of the transfers he decided to donate all the money to further Taiwan’s diplomacy.

Taipei Times reports on different reactions from Taiwanese upon hearing news of his arrest. Some loyal to Chen began protesting, whereas others lit firecrackers in celebration. Additionally, the article goes into what could be a more serious political split in Taiwan:

DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said the current political atmosphere had driven the authorities to take Chen Shui-bian into custody, and that meant the former president would not be subject to a fair and independent investigation.

He said prosecutors had purposely staged the scene showing Chen Shui-bian bound in handcuffs as it would leave the public with a negative impression of all DPP politicians.

Gao said that not a single KMT government official had been detained in handcuffs in the last 10 years, and that included Ma, who was indicted on corruption charges over the use of his special allowance fund during his stint as Taipei mayor.

“Such an action is meant to humiliate the DPP,” Gao said.

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Former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian on Wednesday rejected allegations that he embezzled nearly 500,000 US dollars in state funds, telling prosecutors he had done nothing wrong.

“I was not corrupt,” Chen told reporters after he was questioned for more than four hours by prosecutors over his alleged wrongdoing.

The questioning came one month after President Ma Ying-jeou declassified documents that allegedly implicate Chen — mainly receipts and records relating to the former leader’s use of special expenses from 2000-2006.

“I did not take money out of the special expenses and put it into my own pockets, nor did I funnel it abroad,” Chen said.

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Taiwan’s former president Chen Shui-bian has been barred from leaving the island and his office raided on money-laundering allegations implicating him and his family, officials said Sunday.

The coast guard confirmed that Chen on Saturday had been barred by prosecutors from leaving the territory which he led for eight years.

“We received the order from the special investigation unit around 9:20 pm last night saying former president Chen was barred from leaving the country,” Coast Guard Administration spokesman Hsieh Ching-chin told AFP.

Read also Taiwan Ex-President Chen’s Home Searched Over Funds by Tim Culpan.

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Taiwan has launched an investigation into alleged money laundering by former president Chen Shui-bian and his family following similar moves by Swiss authorities, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said Friday.

Swiss prosecutors “have requested assistance in their investigation and we have immediately started our own probe,” Liu told reporters without elaborating.

Taiwan’s justice ministry said the request, received on July 31, was from the Swiss side which was investigating suspected money laundering by Chen’s son Chen Chih-chung and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching.

Read also Taiwan’s Chen: I broke the law from AP.

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Five former ministers who served under Chen Shui-bian when he was president of Taiwan were indicted Tuesday on corruption charges related to the alleged misuse of special expense accounts.

The indictments were the latest in a series of scandals to beset Chen, his aides and his family during and since his eight years as leader of this self-ruled island. The accusations have overshadowed his legacy as an advocate for Taiwanese national identity and independence from China.

Chen, who left office in May, is himself under investigation for his handling of secret state funds. His wife, Wu Shu-chen, was indicted on charges of embezzling $450,000 from government accounts while Chen was still in office, and her trial is underway. In addition, their son-in-law has been convicted of insider trading and several senior aides of influence peddling.

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A Taiwanese legislator who played an important role in exposing the scandals now afflicting the island’s president, Chen Shiu-bian, has been forced to cancel a speech in Beijing on fighting corruption.

Chiu Yi, of the main opposition Kuomintang, said yesterday that senior officials pulled the plug on his talk about freedom of speech in Taiwan out of fear it could lead to a spate of corruption exposes on the mainland.

“I was going to speak about how my success in exposing scandals was due mainly to the freedom of speech we have in Taiwan,” a disappointed Mr Chiu said in Beijing.

See also “Crisis deepens for beleaguered Chen” from The Standard (link).

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