TAIPEI, Taiwan – Former President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday was led from a prosecutor's office in handcuffs after being questioned for five hours on money-laundering allegations.
Taiwan television stations, which broadcast images of Chen being taken away, said that Chen arrived at Taipei district court, where a judge could order his detention.
Chen could be heard shouting, "This is a political persecution" and "Cheers for Taiwan," as he was being led away.
Chen said Monday night he believed his arrest was imminent. He linked it to attempts by newly installed Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou to placate China, following violent protests last week against a visiting Chinese envoy.
Chen, who has denied any wrongdoing, is an ardent supporter of Taiwanese independence, a cause decried by Beijing, which insists that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory. China has threatened war if the island moves to make its 59-year break with the mainland permanent.
"Long live Taiwanese democracy," Chen declared to his supporters outside the prosecutors' office. "Long live Taiwanese independence."
Well, it's about time. Hope he rots away in jail for the rest of his life. It's rather sad to see the TI'ers falling for A Bian once again. I almost feel sorry for them, but you get the leadership you deserve.
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
TAIPEI, Taiwan – A Taiwanese court has ordered the detention of former President Chen Shui-bian on corruption charges.
Wednesday's decision follows a lengthy probe of Chen, climaxing in more than five hours of direct questioning by prosecutors.
The case against Chen centers on suspicions he was involved in a money laundering scheme during his just concluded presidency. The former president maintains he is innocent of the charges.
The 57-year-old Chen is expected to be transferred to Tucheng Jail, the Taipei facility where he spent eight months 21 years ago for defaming an official of the ruling Nationalist Party during the waning days of Taiwan's martial law regime.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian was returned to a Taipei court early Wednesday, after his hearing on corruption allegations was briefly recessed for treatment of injuries he said he sustained in an attack.
Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party said Chen, 57, claimed he was attacked by a member of the prosecutors' staff while in transit between a Taipei prosecutors' office and the nearby Taipei District Court. Chen was taken to a Taipei hospital where doctors concluded that he suffered only a minor muscle injury. He was then returned to court and the session resumed.
Prosecutors denied there had been any attack.
The episode was a bizarre development in a day that began with Chen facing more than five hours of grilling from investigators looking into allegations of money laundering during his recently concluded presidency.
Early Tuesday afternoon, he was driven in handcuffs from the prosecutors' office in downtown Taipei to the nearby court building.
As he was being led away from the prosecutors' office, Chen could be heard shouting, "This is a political persecution" and "Cheers for Taiwan."
Prosecutors have not commented publicly on the case.
Chen said Monday night he believed his detention was imminent. Before facing prosecutors Tuesday morning he linked the likelihood of his arrest to attempts by newly installed Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou to placate China, following violent protests last week against a visiting Chinese envoy.
"Long live Taiwanese democracy," Chen declared to his supporters outside the prosecutors' office. "Long live Taiwanese independence."
Chen's defiance notwithstanding, millions of Taiwanese revile him for permitting his presidency to be mired in an atmosphere of systematic corruption.
Friends and close advisers to Chen have been imprisoned on a variety of graft charges, his wife is being tried for allegedly looting a special presidential fund, and Chen himself is facing a complex series of judicial probes.
Tuesday's questioning focused on allegations he laundered money and made illegal use of the special presidential fund during his eight years in office that ended in May.
Chen admitted in August that he broke the law by not fully disclosing campaign donations he had received, after a lawmaker alleged that Chen's son and daughter-in-law moved millions of dollars to Switzerland in 2007, and then forwarded the funds to the Cayman Islands. Chen also left the Democratic Progressive Party, a party he helped start in 1987, after admitting he broke the law.
At the time prosecutors said they wanted to determine whether the funds were indeed donations left over from political campaigns — as Chen insisted — or whether bribery might have been involved.
Under Taiwanese law, false declaration of donations is subject to a fine of $9,670, but money laundering carries a seven-year prison sentence.
Several lawmakers from Ma's Nationalist Party have recently alleged that the ex-president took large bribes in connection with a spate of mergers initiated by the government in 2005, when several small banks took over a number of well-established financial institutions.
Taiwanese newspapers have also reported that Chen received millions of dollars in bribes from Taiwan's Far Eastern Group. Both the company and Chen have denied those reports.
The funny thing is, it is the swiss bank which discovered all those misused funds.
And Chen is claiming those money are used to help Taiwan achieve independece, nevermind if he is the president for 8 years.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
Guardsman Bass wrote:This isn't exactly news; I remember reading about him being accused of these crimes before he left office.
Accused and conviction of a former president is two different thing. Ma is rather daring to convict a former president. Something that most developed nations' leader is afraid to do.
Humans are such funny creatures. We are selfish about selflessness, yet we can love something so much that we can hate something.
Guardsman Bass wrote:This isn't exactly news; I remember reading about him being accused of these crimes before he left office.
Accused and conviction of a former president is two different thing. Ma is rather daring to convict a former president. Something that most developed nations' leader is afraid to do.
Now if only Obama would show some real balls.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.
I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
