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Ex-president found not guilty of embezzling special state fund

ROC Central News Agency

2011/08/26 13:44:23

By Lai Yo-chia, Sherry Tang and Sofia Wu

Taipei, Aug. 26 (CNA) Imprisoned former President Chen Shui-bian was acquitted Friday of special state affairs fund embezzlement charges but was sentenced to additional prison time for other crimes, in the first retrial of his case in the Taiwan High Court.

The court ruled that Chen was not guilty of skimming money from a special state fund reserved for his discretionary use during his presidency from 2000-2008.

However, it upheld his previous conviction for his role in the use of fraudulent receipts to obtain reimbursement for spending from the special state affairs fund.

For that charge, Chen was given an additional 20-month prison sentence that was halved to 10 months in accordance with a special commutation statute.

The court also upheld Chen's conviction for his role in a money laundering case and sentenced him to another two years in prison.

The new ruling leaves the former president, who is serving a 17.5-year sentence for other corruption crimes, with an additional two years and eight months in prison and a fine of NT$3 million (US$103,448).

However, he still has the option to appeal the latest verdict.

Meanwhile, former first lady Wu Shu-jen was also acquitted of charges related to embezzlement of special state affairs fund, but was given a 20-month sentence for forgery in the matter of the fraudulent receipts that was also halved to 10 months in accordance with a commutation statute.

In the money laundering case, Wu was sentenced to two years in prison.

She was also given another sentence of nine years in prison for her involvement in a bribery case related to the construction of the Nangang Exhibition Hall in suburban Taipei. The court further ruled that Wu should be jailed for 11 years and six months for all these convictions in addition to paying a fine of NT$22 million and being stripped of civic rights for five years.

She also has the option to appeal the court rulings.

In the first trial, Chen and his wife were given life sentences for a spate of corruption charges related to state fund embezzlement, the so-called Lungtan land deal, the Nangang Exhibition Hall project and Diana Chen appointment case, but in the appeal, the High Court cut their sentences to 20 years and stripped them of civic rights for 10 years.

Last November, the Supreme Court ruled on the Lungtan and Diana Chen cases, sentencing Chen and Wu to 17.5-years in prison. However, it ordered a retrial of the state fund embezzlement, money laundering and Nangang Exhibition Hall cases.

Wu, who is in poor health and requires constant care, has had her incarceration put off indefinitely after a prison hospital rejected admitting her in February this year. She has been confined to a wheelchair since being run over by a truck in the 1980s.