The Special Investigation Panel (SIP) of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office is likely to change its mind and appeal the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who was freed without bail on Saturday morning after being held for 32 days.
SIP Spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) had said on Saturday that the panel would not appeal, but yesterday said he had made the remark without consulting other prosecutors involved in the case.
State public Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) told reporters yesterday it was normal for a defendant to be released by a district court after an investigation was completed and the case was to be brought to court.
However, in Chen Shui-bian’s case, prosecutors said they were still probing allegations involving the former first family and the release of the former president could allow him to discuss these with other individuals.
The top prosecutor said “in principle prosecutors would appeal the case with the Taiwan High Court, but the final decision would be made in a prosecutors’ meeting scheduled for tomorrow [today].”
If prosecutors appealed the ruling with the Taiwan High Court, the high court could reject the request or order the district court to reconsider its decision.
Chen Shui-bian, who had been incarcerated since Nov. 12, was indicted on charges of embezzling government funds, money laundering and forgery along with 13 others, including his wife, son and daughter-in-law.
As prosecutors are seeking the “severest penalty,” legal experts believe Chen Shui-bian could face life in prison if convicted.
The former president has repeatedly denied all the charges against him, saying he is the victim of political persecution.
Prosecutors charged Chen Shui-bian and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), with illegally receiving or embezzling NT$490 million (US$14.7 million), some of which was sent overseas.
Of that total, the indictment says, NT$104.15 million was embezzled from the “state affairs” fund during the former president’s eight years in office.
Prosecutors charge that more than NT$27 million of that was obtained by using inappropriate receipts to claim reimbursements from the fund.
The balance — more than NT$76 million — was claimed by former Presidential Office treasurer Chen Chen-hui (陳鎮慧) as “secret funds” from the state affairs fund and handed to Wu to pay for the family’s living expenses and other uses, the indictment says.
The former first family allegedly received another NT$100 million and US$6 million in kickbacks from a total payoff of US$11.98 million by a development company called “Dayu” to pave the way for the Hsinchu Science Park through the purchase of a plot of land in Taoyuan County from Dayu at a price prosecutors say was unreasonably high.
The bribe money was allegedly pocketed by James Lee (李界木), then-chief of the Hsinchu Science Park, and a friend of the former first family, Tsai Ming-che (蔡銘哲), who transferred it to accounts held by members of the former first family.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
RSS