Former President Chen Shui-bian Put Behind Bars

Taipei, Nov. 12, 2008 (CENS)--As an unprecedented case in Taiwan, Former President Chen Shui-bian was taken into custody this morning for alleged crimes of corruption and money laundering.

After an 11-hour trial, the Taipei district court ruled to put Chen behind bars at 7:06 a.m. this morning, in view of his involvement in the alleged crimes which could entail over five years of imprisonment and the possibility of colluded testimony with his accomplices.

Chen was sent to the Taipei Detention Center at 8:00 a.m. and then settled there. Chen issued an announcement via his defending lawyers waiving his right to appeal against the ruling which resulted from political repression and the set stance of the special panel of investigating prosecutors.

Huang Chun-min, Taipei district court spokesman, pointed out that the ruling was based on ample evidences for Chen's involvement in the crimes of corruption, embezzlement of public properties, swindling of properties via his position, bribe taking, and money laundering, despite Chen's categorical denial of his engagement in the crimes.

The trial started at 8:00 p.m. yesterday and was interrupted for a while, when Chen was driven to National Taiwan University Hospital to check his alleged injury inflicted by policemen on the way from the special prosecutor panel's office to the court. The hospital confirmed a slight muscle injury at his arm. The prosecutor panel denied Chen's allegation by showing the video recording the entire transporting process, saying the injury might be caused by unintentional pulling of Chen's arm by policemen during the process.

The prosecutor panel requested the Taipei district court to detain Chen after a marathon interrogation from 9:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. yesterday. Chen selectively answered the questions, exercising the right of silence otherwise, as what he proclaimed at a press conference the previous night.

The move of the prosecutor panel concluded its half-a-year probe into the case. So far, nine persons have been taken into custody, including Chiu Yi-jen, former Vice Premier, Yu Cheng-hsien, former minister of interior, and Yeh Sheng-mao, former chief of the Bureau of Investigation, for involvement in Chen's alleged crimes. During the process, the panel collected ample evidences against Chen's alleged crimes, including embezzling the national-affairs allowance for the President with forged invoices, taking bribes from enterprises for some dubious deals, and overseas money laundering.