Tuesday 23 June 2009

Daughter and son plead guilty to perjury, claim they were trying to protect Chen

The daughter and son of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian pleaded guilty yesterday to perjury charges relating to the embezzlement scandal implicating their father.

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  1. Daughter and son plead guilty to perjury, claim they were trying to protect Chen

    Lawrence Chung
    23 June 2009

    The daughter and son of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian pleaded guilty yesterday to perjury charges relating to the embezzlement scandal implicating their father.

    Lawyers for daughter Chen Hsin-yu and son Chen Chih-chung said after a hearing at the Taipei District Court that the two admitted making false statements to try to protect the former president.

    “Chen Hsin-yu already wanted to plead guilty to perjury charges after she was listed as a defendant by prosecutors” earlier this month, one lawyer said.

    Another lawyer said Chen Chih-chung asked the court to drop charges against him in return for his admitting to making false statements.

    According to the lawyers, Chao Chien-min, a physician married to Chen Hsin-yu, also pleaded guilty to perjury charges yesterday.

    The three were listed as defendants by prosecutors earlier this month for allegedly making false statements about the secret-state-funds case in an attempt to protect the former president. Prosecutors said some receipts used by Chen Shui-bian and his, wife Wu Shu-chen, to account for funding claims came from the trio, but in previous hearings the three insisted they knew nothing about the receipts.

    Chen Shui-bian and Wu were indicted in December for embezzling NT$104 million (HK$24.5 million) worth of special state funds. The pair were also charged with accepting bribes, money laundering, influence peddling and other offences allegedly committed during his two four-year terms as president between 2000 and last year. Chen has been detained, pending trial, while his wheelchair-bound wife is free on bail also pending trial.

    Chen Hsin-yu was the last member of the family to be charged, with a relatively lesser crime that carries a sentence of no more than seven years in jail. Her brother has been previously charged with money laundering, while her husband Chao is appealing against a district court’s six-year sentence for insider trading, a case not related to the corruption charges against the former president and his wife.

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