Taiwan’s ‘Empress Dowager’ to face court over corruption charges
Lawrence Chung in Taipei 9 February 2009
Former Taiwanese first lady Wu Shu-chen is due to appear in court tomorrow for a two-day hearing over her alleged role in a string of multimillion-dollar corruption cases.
The allegations have attracted huge public interest because they also implicate former president Chen Shui-bian, who faces life imprisonment along with his wife if convicted.
Drama has dogged the proceedings. Last month, nine co-defendants including the couple’s son Chen Chih-chung and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching pleaded guilty to either money-laundering or corruption in a series of hearings.
Legal experts said that even if Wu was found guilty, the court would have to release her. “Given her ill health, she would most likely be released on medical parole,” lawyer Chuang Hsiu-ming said.
Paralysed from the waist down, the 56-year-old former first lady has missed 17 court dates and passed out in the middle of the first hearing of her case in December 2006, because of her extremely low blood pressure.
“She might do the same, or make an even more dramatic move during the court hearing on Tuesday,” ruling Kuomintang legislator Chiu Yi said.
In her last summons in September, the Taipei District Court denied a request by prosecutors to arrest Wu for failing to show up for a court hearing, after the National Taiwan University Hospital issued a statement saying it would be life-threatening for her to attend court.
Although her son and lawyer had insisted that she would attend this time, there is also a question of whether she would be able to go through the court proceedings due to her poor health, according to doctors.
Taipei District Court Judge Tsai Shou-hsun said the court asked the hospital to provide all necessary care for Wu during the hearing.
Wu was hit by a farm vehicle while accompanying her husband on a trip to thank supporters after Chen lost the Tainan county mayoral election in 1985. The accident left her confined to a wheelchair and she has remained in poor health since.
Wu was charged in November 2006 with embezzlement of NT$14.8 million (HK$3.5 million) in special state funds when her husband was president.
Prosecutors alleged that she used receipts provided by others to account for the special funds allotted to Chen for spending on public events.
Further investigations suggested that the couple embezzled NT$104 million in special state funds, including money for financing secret diplomatic missions.
In December, prosecutors indicted Wu and the ex-president on various charges, including embezzling NT$104 million, accepting bribes of at least NT$491.8 million and laundering at least US$21 million in funds abroad.
Dubbed Taiwan’s “Empress Dowager”, Wu is a controversial figure compared with other former first ladies. She has a reputation for bossing Chen around and has an interest in making money, according to Taiwanese news media and friends of the former president.
Some of Chen’s friends said the ex-president felt indebted to Wu because she defied her wealthy doctor father to marry him in 1975 when he was just a poor lawyer. This feeling turned into a strong sense of guilt when Wu was paralysed, and Chen tolerated unreasonable demands from his wife, according to Chen’s friends.
Her alleged involvement in the fight by three businessmen for ownership of the Sogo Department Store in 2002 put her in the spotlight for suspected influence peddling.
One of the businessmen, Lee Heng-lung, who lost the ownership battle, angrily told reporters later that Wu “acted as if she were Empress Dowager”.
Two years later, she generated attention for allegedly using her children’s accounts for stock market speculation. Her failure to declare her share investment returns led to disciplinary action from the Control Yuan, the government’s watchdog.
Her influence over Chen drew a number of businessmen to the presidential residence, and prosecutors claim she accepted at least NT$491 million in bribes through a government land purchase deal and a government exhibition centre construction project in 2004. Prosecutors said they were still investigating other bribery cases implicating Wu and Chen.
Wu’s alleged instruction to Chen’s aides to use receipts provided by her friends and others to account for her husband’s special state fund claims also resulted in embezzlement charges.
In addition, prosecutors charged her with laundering at least US$21 million through her proxies, including her son, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, friends and associates.
The alleged money-laundering came to light after Swiss authorities notified Taiwan in July of unusual fund flows in two Swiss bank accounts owned by Wu’s son and daughter-in-law.
Wu has denied all charges but admitted that she wired the money abroad, insisting such funds were all legal and included leftover campaign donations, political contributions and the ex-president’s savings.
However, her son and daughter-in-law pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges last month and apologised to the public for their “wrongdoing”, pleas that seemed to have a domino effect. So far, nine co-defendants, including Wu’s brother Wu Ching-mao and sister-in-law Chen Chun-ying, have pleaded guilty to either money-laundering or corruption charges.
The son even confessed that Wu also kept NT$600 million worth of cash and jewels in Taiwan and Japan, and that in addition to the US$21 million which had been frozen by the Swiss authorities, his mother had also wired NT$570 million abroad, and he was willing to send all these funds back to prosecutors in Taiwan.
Some legal experts said the confession could be a strategy to save Chen.
“The judicial authorities must have solid proof that those funds were obtained illegally, such as bribes or through embezzlement, before they can penalise the defendants,” lawyer Sam Wu said.
Shih Yi-lin, one of the three lawyers representing Chen, said the testimony from Chen Chih-chung and Huang Jui-ching related to fund transfers but not the sources of the funds.
“The former first lady has clearly said that the funds she wired abroad were left over from previous campaign donations and political contributions.”
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Taiwan’s ‘Empress Dowager’ to face court over corruption charges
Lawrence Chung in Taipei
9 February 2009
Former Taiwanese first lady Wu Shu-chen is due to appear in court tomorrow for a two-day hearing over her alleged role in a string of multimillion-dollar corruption cases.
The allegations have attracted huge public interest because they also implicate former president Chen Shui-bian, who faces life imprisonment along with his wife if convicted.
Drama has dogged the proceedings. Last month, nine co-defendants including the couple’s son Chen Chih-chung and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching pleaded guilty to either money-laundering or corruption in a series of hearings.
Legal experts said that even if Wu was found guilty, the court would have to release her. “Given her ill health, she would most likely be released on medical parole,” lawyer Chuang Hsiu-ming said.
Paralysed from the waist down, the 56-year-old former first lady has missed 17 court dates and passed out in the middle of the first hearing of her case in December 2006, because of her extremely low blood pressure.
“She might do the same, or make an even more dramatic move during the court hearing on Tuesday,” ruling Kuomintang legislator Chiu Yi said.
In her last summons in September, the Taipei District Court denied a request by prosecutors to arrest Wu for failing to show up for a court hearing, after the National Taiwan University Hospital issued a statement saying it would be life-threatening for her to attend court.
Although her son and lawyer had insisted that she would attend this time, there is also a question of whether she would be able to go through the court proceedings due to her poor health, according to doctors.
Taipei District Court Judge Tsai Shou-hsun said the court asked the hospital to provide all necessary care for Wu during the hearing.
Wu was hit by a farm vehicle while accompanying her husband on a trip to thank supporters after Chen lost the Tainan county mayoral election in 1985. The accident left her confined to a wheelchair and she has remained in poor health since.
Wu was charged in November 2006 with embezzlement of NT$14.8 million (HK$3.5 million) in special state funds when her husband was president.
Prosecutors alleged that she used receipts provided by others to account for the special funds allotted to Chen for spending on public events.
Further investigations suggested that the couple embezzled NT$104 million in special state funds, including money for financing secret diplomatic missions.
In December, prosecutors indicted Wu and the ex-president on various charges, including embezzling NT$104 million, accepting bribes of at least NT$491.8 million and laundering at least US$21 million in funds abroad.
Dubbed Taiwan’s “Empress Dowager”, Wu is a controversial figure compared with other former first ladies. She has a reputation for bossing Chen around and has an interest in making money, according to Taiwanese news media and friends of the former president.
Some of Chen’s friends said the ex-president felt indebted to Wu because she defied her wealthy doctor father to marry him in 1975 when he was just a poor lawyer. This feeling turned into a strong sense of guilt when Wu was paralysed, and Chen tolerated unreasonable demands from his wife, according to Chen’s friends.
Her alleged involvement in the fight by three businessmen for ownership of the Sogo Department Store in 2002 put her in the spotlight for suspected influence peddling.
One of the businessmen, Lee Heng-lung, who lost the ownership battle, angrily told reporters later that Wu “acted as if she were Empress Dowager”.
Two years later, she generated attention for allegedly using her children’s accounts for stock market speculation. Her failure to declare her share investment returns led to disciplinary action from the Control Yuan, the government’s watchdog.
Her influence over Chen drew a number of businessmen to the presidential residence, and prosecutors claim she accepted at least NT$491 million in bribes through a government land purchase deal and a government exhibition centre construction project in 2004. Prosecutors said they were still investigating other bribery cases implicating Wu and Chen.
Wu’s alleged instruction to Chen’s aides to use receipts provided by her friends and others to account for her husband’s special state fund claims also resulted in embezzlement charges.
In addition, prosecutors charged her with laundering at least US$21 million through her proxies, including her son, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, friends and associates.
The alleged money-laundering came to light after Swiss authorities notified Taiwan in July of unusual fund flows in two Swiss bank accounts owned by Wu’s son and daughter-in-law.
Wu has denied all charges but admitted that she wired the money abroad, insisting such funds were all legal and included leftover campaign donations, political contributions and the ex-president’s savings.
However, her son and daughter-in-law pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges last month and apologised to the public for their “wrongdoing”, pleas that seemed to have a domino effect. So far, nine co-defendants, including Wu’s brother Wu Ching-mao and sister-in-law Chen Chun-ying, have pleaded guilty to either money-laundering or corruption charges.
The son even confessed that Wu also kept NT$600 million worth of cash and jewels in Taiwan and Japan, and that in addition to the US$21 million which had been frozen by the Swiss authorities, his mother had also wired NT$570 million abroad, and he was willing to send all these funds back to prosecutors in Taiwan.
Some legal experts said the confession could be a strategy to save Chen.
“The judicial authorities must have solid proof that those funds were obtained illegally, such as bribes or through embezzlement, before they can penalise the defendants,” lawyer Sam Wu said.
Shih Yi-lin, one of the three lawyers representing Chen, said the testimony from Chen Chih-chung and Huang Jui-ching related to fund transfers but not the sources of the funds.
“The former first lady has clearly said that the funds she wired abroad were left over from previous campaign donations and political contributions.”
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