Former president detained
ROC Central News Agency
Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) The Taipei District Court granted a request by prosecutors Wednesday to detain former President Chen Shui-bian on charges of corruption, document concealment and money laundering.
A panel of three judges consented to the request after an overnight hearning.
The decision makes Chen the first former Republic of China president to be detained.
Prosecutors from the Special Investigation Division requested Chen's detention Tuesday afternoon after questioning him for six hours on alleged embezzlement, fraud, accepting bribes and money laundering during his two-term presidency between 2000 and 2008.
They said Chen could collude with others if allowed to remain at large and that his offenses are felonies subject to at least five years in prison, which is why they requested his detention.
The prosecution's questions that afternoon mainly focused on Chen's role in the alleged misuse of his "state affairs fund, " a scandal over the Nankang Exhibition Hall, and accepting bribes from business tycoons during his presidency.
Chen shouted "political persecution!" and "go Taiwan! " before he was led in handcuffs to the Taipei District Court for a hearing on whether to detain him.
The court's hearing was interrupted three hours later when Chen complained that he felt uncomfortable because he was stricken by a police officer while being escorted from the prosecutors' office to the court.
The three judges presiding over the hearing accompanied Chen to go to the National Taiwan University Hospital for an medical examination early Wednesday and returned to the court one and half an hour later.
An court official quoted doctors as saying that Chen's right arm muscle strained but he is otherwise all right and the hearing was resumed.
Chen Yun-nan, chief of the Special Investigation Division denied there was any wrongdoing on the part of the police, saying that they escorted the president to the court under the full view of Chen's bodyguards and lawyer.
Chen had predicted his own detention a day earlier with news of barricades being set up around the Tucheng detention center in Taipei County. A large contingent of 3,000 police officers was deployed around the site of the Special Investigation Division in downtown Taipei to prevent possible clashes between Chen's supporters and opponents.
A defiant Chen said before reporting to the Special Investigation Division that morning that he would soon enter "Taiwan's Bastille, " although it could only "lock up my body, but not my heart." His Bastille remark was reference to the historic prison in Paris that was a central factor in the start of the French revolution.
He also claimed that because China was angry at the demonstration staged by pro-independence protesters during its top negotiator's stay in Taipei Nov. 3-7, President Ma Ying-jeou has joined hands with China to detain him to appease Beijing.
Chen's wife Wu Shu-jen was indicted for corruption and forgery in November 2006 for using receipts provided by others to claim reimbursements totaling NT$14.8 million from the president's "state affairs fund" between July 2002 and March 2006.
Chen, who had immunity from prosecution while in office, was probed for his role in the "state affairs fund" case soon after he stepped down from the presidency May 20.
The probe was the start of a series of investigations into a spate of further irregularities involving the former first family, especially the snowballing money laundering scandal in which billions of dollars were reportedly wired into secret overseas bank accounts by members of Chen's family.
Chen only admitted that some money was wired to overseas bank accounts without his knowledge until early this year after it was revealed that former Investigation Bureau chief Yeh Sheng-mao actually submitted a report by the Egmont Group, an anti-money laundering organization, on the secret bank accounts held by Chen's family members, in early February. Chen later claimed that the money was to be used by him to promote Taiwan's diplomacy after he retired.
The Special Investigation Division has already detained Chen's former treasurer Chen Cheng-hui, former Presidential Office Director Lin Teh-hsun and former Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Ma Yung-cheng, as well as several others allegedly involved in the scandals, to prevent the possibility of collusion among them. (By Lilian Wu) ENDITEM/J
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