Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who has been detained since Dec. 30 ahead of his trial on money-laundering and corruption charges, will be held for another two months after March 26, the Taipei District Court ruled yesterday. The court also set a start date of March 17 for the trial.
Citing fears that Chen might collude with witnesses or try to abscond, the court extended his detention.
An aide at Chen’s office, who wished to remain anonymous, yesterday said the former president would appeal.
PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP
“Could it be that [the court] intends to keep Chen Shui-bian [at the Taipei Detention Center] until the first ruling is handed down?” the aide asked.
Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-shun (蔡守訓) said the trial would begin on March 17 and called the former president’s bookkeeper Chen Chen-hui (陳鎮慧) as the first witness.
Meanwhile, former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) appeared at a pre-trial hearing yesterday. The hearing was held to clarify witness statements and evidence and to schedule court dates with the defendants and prosecutors in her trial.
Wu’s lawyer Lin Chih-chung (林志忠) asked that the court arrange a meeting with Wu, Chen Chen-hui, former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), former Chen Shui-bian office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓), and former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒).
Tsai asked if Wu’s lawyers had enough time to examine the evidence in the money-laundering case, to which Lin suggested that tomorrow’s scheduled hearing be canceled because there was too much information to review.
Tsai agreed and announced that the next hearing would take place on March 12.
He also scheduled Ma and Lin Teh-hsun to testify in court on March 19; former director-general of the Presidential Office accounting department Fon Shui-lin (馮瑞麟) and accountant Chiu Chiung-hsien (邱瓊賢) to testify on March 31; accountants Lan Mei-ling (蘭梅玲) and Liang En-tzu (梁恩賜) on April 2; Koo on April 7; and former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) and former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) on April 9.
In related news, the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) said yesterday that the former first family’s physician Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥) had been listed as a defendant in the money-laundering case.
“Dr. Huang Fang-yen is suspected of violating the Money Laundering Control Act [洗錢防制法],” SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said.
Meanwhile, Koo boarded a plane to China yesterday morning. The purpose of his trip was not made public, but the SIP had been informed of his travel plans.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN AND CNA
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS