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Friday, 20 March 2009
Chen’s wife spent state funds on self
The former chief accountant of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian told Taipei District Court yesterday that former first lady Wu Shu-chen had used public money to “buy food and other personal expenses”.
The former chief accountant of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian told Taipei District Court yesterday that former first lady Wu Shu-chen had used public money to “buy food and other personal expenses”.
Chen Cheng-hui also told the judges that one of the ex-president’s chief aides, Lin Teh-hsun, had asked her to destroy relevant receipts and other documents showing how the special state funds were spent.
“They told me to use part of the special state funds to pay for food and other miscellaneous bills,” she said in her testimony against Wu.
Wu has been charged, along with Chen Shui-bian, with embezzling NT$104 million (HK$24 million) in special state funds, accepting NT$498 million in bribes and laundering at least US$37 million abroad during Chen’s two terms as president, from 2000 to last year.
Chen Cheng-hui, who had agreed to testify in exchange for a pardon for her crimes, said she felt uncomfortable with the idea and told Lin to destroy the evidence himself. She said Lin had later asked a presidential secretary to destroy the documents.
She said that after Chen’s presidency ended on May 20, she passed on to his personal office some of the receipts she had kept, dating from 2005 to last year. She also gave him a USB flash drive with all details of the fund uses between 2000 and last year.
In a search of Chen Shui-bian’s office late last year, prosecutors found the documents and the drive, used as key evidence.
But Wu reiterated yesterday that she had never spent a single cent for personal purposes. She also insisted that Chen Cheng-hui had asked to move the public funds to the presidential residence because there was not enough space in the Presidential Office safe. But the accountant argued that the office safe was much larger than the one at Wu’s home. The trial resumes next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the US mission in Taiwan yesterday confirmed for the first time that Taipei had sought judicial help from Washington in the graft case against Chen Shui-bian and his family.
“Taiwan’s law-enforcement authorities have been in touch with US counterparts concerning tracking former president Chen’s funds in the United States,” said Thomas Hodges, spokesman for the American Institute in Taiwan.
The two sides in 2002 signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement, which “establishes a mechanism by which US and Taiwan law-enforcement authorities may co-operate in obtaining and sharing relevant information and evidence”, he said.
Mr. Hodges would not provide details regarding the case: “As this is a law-enforcement matter, we would refer you to the US Department of Justice or to the Taiwan authorities for further information.”
Chen Yun-nan, spokesman for the prosecutors in charge of the Chen Shui-bian case, refused to comment.
Local media said Chen Shui-bian and his family had stashed billions of New Taiwan dollars in Switzerland, Singapore, the US, Japan and other countries. Both Switzerland and Singapore had supplied Taiwanese officials with information in the Chen case, prosecutors said.
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Chen’s wife spent state funds on self
Lawrence Chung in Taipei
20 March 2009
The former chief accountant of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian told Taipei District Court yesterday that former first lady Wu Shu-chen had used public money to “buy food and other personal expenses”.
Chen Cheng-hui also told the judges that one of the ex-president’s chief aides, Lin Teh-hsun, had asked her to destroy relevant receipts and other documents showing how the special state funds were spent.
“They told me to use part of the special state funds to pay for food and other miscellaneous bills,” she said in her testimony against Wu.
Wu has been charged, along with Chen Shui-bian, with embezzling NT$104 million (HK$24 million) in special state funds, accepting NT$498 million in bribes and laundering at least US$37 million abroad during Chen’s two terms as president, from 2000 to last year.
Chen Cheng-hui, who had agreed to testify in exchange for a pardon for her crimes, said she felt uncomfortable with the idea and told Lin to destroy the evidence himself. She said Lin had later asked a presidential secretary to destroy the documents.
She said that after Chen’s presidency ended on May 20, she passed on to his personal office some of the receipts she had kept, dating from 2005 to last year. She also gave him a USB flash drive with all details of the fund uses between 2000 and last year.
In a search of Chen Shui-bian’s office late last year, prosecutors found the documents and the drive, used as key evidence.
But Wu reiterated yesterday that she had never spent a single cent for personal purposes. She also insisted that Chen Cheng-hui had asked to move the public funds to the presidential residence because there was not enough space in the Presidential Office safe. But the accountant argued that the office safe was much larger than the one at Wu’s home. The trial resumes next Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the US mission in Taiwan yesterday confirmed for the first time that Taipei had sought judicial help from Washington in the graft case against Chen Shui-bian and his family.
“Taiwan’s law-enforcement authorities have been in touch with US counterparts concerning tracking former president Chen’s funds in the United States,” said Thomas Hodges, spokesman for the American Institute in Taiwan.
The two sides in 2002 signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement, which “establishes a mechanism by which US and Taiwan law-enforcement authorities may co-operate in obtaining and sharing relevant information and evidence”, he said.
Mr. Hodges would not provide details regarding the case: “As this is a law-enforcement matter, we would refer you to the US Department of Justice or to the Taiwan authorities for further information.”
Chen Yun-nan, spokesman for the prosecutors in charge of the Chen Shui-bian case, refused to comment.
Local media said Chen Shui-bian and his family had stashed billions of New Taiwan dollars in Switzerland, Singapore, the US, Japan and other countries. Both Switzerland and Singapore had supplied Taiwanese officials with information in the Chen case, prosecutors said.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
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