Ex-president back in court after hospital visit over abuse allegation
By Ho Ai Li 12 November 2008
TAIPEI: Taiwan was kept on tenterhooks last night after a drama-packed day waiting to see whether former president Chen Shui-bian would be arrested on graft and money-laundering charges.
Taipei District Court appeared to be on the brink of ordering his detention when after 13 hours, at 10.45pm, the hearing was suspended for Mr Chen to be taken to hospital for a check-up after claiming the police had beaten him up on the way to court.
The hearing resumed in the early hours of this morning when he was returned to court. A member of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) told reporters he had suffered an injury to his hand.
He had earlier posed for the media in handcuffs as he first left for court, and prosecutors later said they had checked a videotape of his journey to the hearing and found no evidence of police violence.
The prosecution has asked for Mr Chen’s arrest on charges that he pocketed special presidential allowances and secret diplomacy funds, accepted bribes, forged documents and engaged in money-laundering.
If found guilty, the man once dubbed ‘Son of Taiwan’ after rising from poverty to become president from 2000 to March this year, faces at least five years’ jail, which would make him the first former Taiwanese president to be locked up.
Investigations into alleged money- laundering by his family began in August when a secret Swiss bank account was uncovered.
Many analysts had long expected him to be arrested, given that nine people, including his right-hand men Chiou I-jen and Ma Yong-cheng, had earlier been hauled up in connection with the allegations.
Mr Chen and his son, daughter-in-law and wife are all under suspicion, with his wheelchair-bound wife likely to be summoned for questioning soon.
Yesterday, thousands of police officers were deployed and hundreds of barricades set up to prevent a repeat of flare-ups during China envoy Chen Yunlin’s visit last week.
The former president, who has been travelling around the island to consolidate support, has accused the Kuomintang (KMT) government of persecuting him and the DPP he once led.
Mr Chen also pre-empted yesterday’s events by holding a press conference on Monday evening to predict his arrest the following day, and accuse the KMT of sacrificing him to appease China’s anger over last week’s violent protests.
He also urged the government to release his DPP allies already arrested.
‘Let me bear Taiwan’s cross alone. Don’t drag the innocent into it. Tomorrow, I’ll be imprisoned, not for myself, but for the sake of Taiwan becoming a new and independent country,’ he said.
Mr Chen, who was jailed for eight months for libel in 1986, claimed his arrest would lead to the birth of an independent Taiwan state, and even compared himself to 18th century French revolutionaries locked up in the ‘Bastille Prison’.
‘I’ve been waiting for this day for very long,’ Mr Chen declared on Monday.
Then at around 9.30am yesterday, he walked the 50m from his office to the special prosecutors’ office, accompanied by about 100 supporters, including DPP lawmakers.
But DPP chairman Tsai Ing-wen, who had been vocal in supporting DPP members arrested for corruption, was conspicuously silent about Mr Chen’s likely arrest.
Meanwhile, critics say they have waited a long time for Mr Chen’s imprisonment. In Taichung, in central Taiwan, an office worker let off firecrackers in what turned out to be a premature celebration of Mr Chen’s incarceration.
And political temperatures can only rise further if Mr Chen is arrested, with supporters and detractors already at each other’s throats yesterday over his fate.
1 comment:
Chen’s high-drama arrest
Ex-president back in court after hospital visit over abuse allegation
By Ho Ai Li
12 November 2008
TAIPEI: Taiwan was kept on tenterhooks last night after a drama-packed day waiting to see whether former president Chen Shui-bian would be arrested on graft and money-laundering charges.
Taipei District Court appeared to be on the brink of ordering his detention when after 13 hours, at 10.45pm, the hearing was suspended for Mr Chen to be taken to hospital for a check-up after claiming the police had beaten him up on the way to court.
The hearing resumed in the early hours of this morning when he was returned to court. A member of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) told reporters he had suffered an injury to his hand.
He had earlier posed for the media in handcuffs as he first left for court, and prosecutors later said they had checked a videotape of his journey to the hearing and found no evidence of police violence.
The prosecution has asked for Mr Chen’s arrest on charges that he pocketed special presidential allowances and secret diplomacy funds, accepted bribes, forged documents and engaged in money-laundering.
If found guilty, the man once dubbed ‘Son of Taiwan’ after rising from poverty to become president from 2000 to March this year, faces at least five years’ jail, which would make him the first former Taiwanese president to be locked up.
Investigations into alleged money- laundering by his family began in August when a secret Swiss bank account was uncovered.
Many analysts had long expected him to be arrested, given that nine people, including his right-hand men Chiou I-jen and Ma Yong-cheng, had earlier been hauled up in connection with the allegations.
Mr Chen and his son, daughter-in-law and wife are all under suspicion, with his wheelchair-bound wife likely to be summoned for questioning soon.
Yesterday, thousands of police officers were deployed and hundreds of barricades set up to prevent a repeat of flare-ups during China envoy Chen Yunlin’s visit last week.
The former president, who has been travelling around the island to consolidate support, has accused the Kuomintang (KMT) government of persecuting him and the DPP he once led.
Mr Chen also pre-empted yesterday’s events by holding a press conference on Monday evening to predict his arrest the following day, and accuse the KMT of sacrificing him to appease China’s anger over last week’s violent protests.
He also urged the government to release his DPP allies already arrested.
‘Let me bear Taiwan’s cross alone. Don’t drag the innocent into it. Tomorrow, I’ll be imprisoned, not for myself, but for the sake of Taiwan becoming a new and independent country,’ he said.
Mr Chen, who was jailed for eight months for libel in 1986, claimed his arrest would lead to the birth of an independent Taiwan state, and even compared himself to 18th century French revolutionaries locked up in the ‘Bastille Prison’.
‘I’ve been waiting for this day for very long,’ Mr Chen declared on Monday.
Then at around 9.30am yesterday, he walked the 50m from his office to the special prosecutors’ office, accompanied by about 100 supporters, including DPP lawmakers.
But DPP chairman Tsai Ing-wen, who had been vocal in supporting DPP members arrested for corruption, was conspicuously silent about Mr Chen’s likely arrest.
Meanwhile, critics say they have waited a long time for Mr Chen’s imprisonment. In Taichung, in central Taiwan, an office worker let off firecrackers in what turned out to be a premature celebration of Mr Chen’s incarceration.
And political temperatures can only rise further if Mr Chen is arrested, with supporters and detractors already at each other’s throats yesterday over his fate.
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