Special prosecutors yesterday indicted former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for illegally seizing confidential government documents, the latest in a series of charges facing Chen, who is already serving a jail sentence for corruption.
Chen was indicted on the charge of violating the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) members said.
However, because Chen never released any of the documents to the public, prosecutors recommended that the court give the former president a relatively light sentence proportionate to the crime.
Photo: CNA
According to the indictment, Chen ordered close aides to pack and transport important documents from national security agencies, the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to his personal office in Taipei after the March presidential election in 2008, when Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party was voted out of power.
Prosecutors said that after searches, inspectors discovered the former president had taken more than 17,000 documents, 3,419 of which were classified.
SID inspectors questioned people linked to the case 43 times and Chen himself at Taipei Prison, where he has been serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence since late 2010.
While Chen told prosecutors he did not know how his aides handled the documents and that as president he had the right to destroy them, prosecutors said in the indictment it was against the law for him not to return the documents after leaving office on May 20, 2008.
The prosecutors alleged that Chen kept the documents for several reasons — to help him write a planned memoir and prepare for lawsuits in which he was involved and to collect evidence against other politicians.
The former president’s office yesterday afternoon called the indictment ridiculous and unfounded, adding that the fact that it was made one day after President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration raised serious questions about the SID’s motives. Chen’s office denied having done anything illegal and called for the abolishment of the SID, saying it was unworthy of the public.
Chen’s attorney, Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍), described the indictment as “political suppression.”
Cheng said the SID should be cracking down on irregularities involving incumbent government officials rather than on the former president, citing problems related to the production of an expensive musical, called Dreamers (夢想家), for the Republic of China centennial celebration last year, as well as the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo.
Cheng also said that because the office of a former president is also defined as a public institution, Chen’s action could simply be described as moving the files from one public institution to another.
“It does not involve illegal conduct or corruption,” he said.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers