Taiwan's ex-president back behind bars pending corruption trial
A Taiwanese court Tuesday ordered ex-president Chen Shui-bian to be locked up pending his trial on corruption charges that the former leader has dismissed as a witch hunt by the China-friendly government.
The Taipei District Court's decision reversed an earlier ruling and saw the former pro-independence leader sent back to the Tucheng detention centre outside the capital after spending just over two weeks free pending trial.
The judges said in their ruling they feared Chen could collude with other suspects, destroy evidence or flee the island unless he was detained.
The ruling is the latest twist in a long-running saga involving the former leader, who was arrested in November and charged with embezzlement and money laundering only to be released on December 13.
Since then, Chen and his lawyers had been battling state prosecutors' attempts to have him put back in custody.
Chen, who left office in May after serving a maximum two terms as president, is the island's first former leader to be detained on criminal charges and faces life in prison if convicted.
One of the former president's lawyers, Cheng Wen-lung, described the ruling as "unfair" and vowed to appeal.
"The ruling is not a surprise, because apparently it is the result of politics intervening in justice," the lawyer said. "My client... said he would keep striving to prove his innocence," he said.
Shortly before the court session opened, Chen's lawyers had asked the three judges not to review an earlier decision made by a different panel of judges in the same court.
The change of the judges "indicated that [President] Ma Ying-jeou has been trying everything he can to put the former president into jail", said parliamentarian Lai Ching-teh of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which Chen once led.
Another DPP parliamentarian, Kao Chih-peng, threatened to take supporters on to Taipei's streets to protest against what he said was political persecution, an allegation denied by Ma's ruling Kuomintang.
Chen, 58, has repeatedly insisted that the charges against him are politically motivated, accusing Ma's Beijing-friendly government of leading a witch hunt.
The former president and his wife, Wu Shu-chen, are accused of embezzling 104 million Taiwan dollars (3.15 million US) in public funds and accepting a bribe of about 12 million US dollars in a land purchase deal.
Prosecutors also allege that Wu took a kickback of 2.7 million US dollars in a construction project.
Their son and daughter-in-law were also charged with money laundering.
Chen, who came to power eight years ago pledging to fight corruption, has admitted his wife wired 20 million US dollars abroad but said the money was from past campaign funds and she did so without his knowledge.
His family has agreed to turn over 21 million US dollars found in their Swiss bank accounts to the Taipei government.
No date for Chen's trial or his next court appearance had yet been set, a court official said.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/081230/afp/081230085148int.html
http://www.worldjournal.com/wj-tw-news.php?nt_seq_id=1824718
A Taiwanese court Tuesday ordered ex-president Chen Shui-bian to be locked up pending his trial on corruption charges that the former leader has dismissed as a witch hunt by the China-friendly government.
The Taipei District Court's decision reversed an earlier ruling and saw the former pro-independence leader sent back to the Tucheng detention centre outside the capital after spending just over two weeks free pending trial.
The judges said in their ruling they feared Chen could collude with other suspects, destroy evidence or flee the island unless he was detained.
The ruling is the latest twist in a long-running saga involving the former leader, who was arrested in November and charged with embezzlement and money laundering only to be released on December 13.
Since then, Chen and his lawyers had been battling state prosecutors' attempts to have him put back in custody.
Chen, who left office in May after serving a maximum two terms as president, is the island's first former leader to be detained on criminal charges and faces life in prison if convicted.
One of the former president's lawyers, Cheng Wen-lung, described the ruling as "unfair" and vowed to appeal.
"The ruling is not a surprise, because apparently it is the result of politics intervening in justice," the lawyer said. "My client... said he would keep striving to prove his innocence," he said.
Shortly before the court session opened, Chen's lawyers had asked the three judges not to review an earlier decision made by a different panel of judges in the same court.
The change of the judges "indicated that [President] Ma Ying-jeou has been trying everything he can to put the former president into jail", said parliamentarian Lai Ching-teh of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which Chen once led.
Another DPP parliamentarian, Kao Chih-peng, threatened to take supporters on to Taipei's streets to protest against what he said was political persecution, an allegation denied by Ma's ruling Kuomintang.
Chen, 58, has repeatedly insisted that the charges against him are politically motivated, accusing Ma's Beijing-friendly government of leading a witch hunt.
The former president and his wife, Wu Shu-chen, are accused of embezzling 104 million Taiwan dollars (3.15 million US) in public funds and accepting a bribe of about 12 million US dollars in a land purchase deal.
Prosecutors also allege that Wu took a kickback of 2.7 million US dollars in a construction project.
Their son and daughter-in-law were also charged with money laundering.
Chen, who came to power eight years ago pledging to fight corruption, has admitted his wife wired 20 million US dollars abroad but said the money was from past campaign funds and she did so without his knowledge.
His family has agreed to turn over 21 million US dollars found in their Swiss bank accounts to the Taipei government.
No date for Chen's trial or his next court appearance had yet been set, a court official said.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/081230/afp/081230085148int.html
http://www.worldjournal.com/wj-tw-news.php?nt_seq_id=1824718
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