Thursday 4 December 2008

Former Taiwan intelligence chief jailed for 10 years over graft

A Taiwanese court on Thursday sentenced a former intelligence chief to 10 years in prison for his involvement in a corruption scandal implicating ex-president Chen Shui-bian.

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Guanyu said...

Former Taiwan intelligence chief jailed for 10 years over graft

AFP in Taipei
4 December 2008

A Taiwanese court on Thursday sentenced a former intelligence chief to 10 years in prison for his involvement in a corruption scandal implicating ex-president Chen Shui-bian.

Former Bureau of Investigation director Yeh Sheng-mao was convicted of influence peddling, concealing documents and leaking secrets to Chen while he was president, said an official at the Taipei district court.

Mr. Yeh was also found guilty of leaking secrets to a lawmaker in a separate case and received a combined 10-year imprisonment, the official said.

The court refused Mr. Yeh bail while he decides whether or not to appeal against the ruling.

The former intelligence chief has been detained since October on charges of covering up for Mr. Chen during the former leader’s presidency and warning him that international financial watchdog The Egmont Group was investigating his family.

Mr. Yeh was found guilty of concealing information in January that the company was investigating Chen’s alleged money laundering activities in the Cayman Islands, and also in 2006 about his suspected illegal activities in Jersey.

Mr. Chen, his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and brother-in-law have all been named as defendants in the money laundering case.

The ex-leader, detained since last month, is also being investigated for allegedly embezzling government funds, as well as taking bribes and document forgery.

Mr. Chen, the first former Taiwanese leader ever to be arrested, can be held for four months before prosecutors have to charge him.

His family has agreed to send back US$21 million found in their Swiss bank accounts in co-operation with the probe, prosecutors said.

Mr. Chen, whose pro-independence stance while in office had angered Beijing, has repeatedly accused the island’s current Beijing-friendly government of being behind the corruption allegations against him.