Prosecutor Eric Chen (
On Friday, prosecutors indicted first lady Wu Shu-jen (
Eric Chen detailed the evidence he had collected when explaining the indictment in a press conference on Friday, emphasizing the reasons why he could not accept the "secret diplomatic mission" explanation offered by the president, Wu and other suspects.
Eric Chen said prosecutors discovered that a total of 29 receipts used to claim reimbursements from the "state affairs fund" were actually received by Wu when she bought jewelry, clothing, shoes, sunglasses and other items worth a total of NT$1,490,000 (US$45,288).
He added that he investigated a number of shops where Wu had bought goods, and that he had statements from the stores' clerks.
The prosecutor said clerks had told him that Wu had tried on the clothing before she bought it, and that he had proved that the clothing bought matched Wu's size.
"I also learned that a diamond ring that Wu bought matches her finger size," Eric Chen told the press on Friday.
The prosecutor said he interviewed the president for the second time on Oct. 27, and asked him to explain how the receipts had been submitted for reimbursement from the "state affairs fund." The president admitted that while some of the receipts were from gifts he had bought for his wife, others were from gifts for foreign guests and friends' weddings.
Eric Chen, however, said "Chen [Shui-bian] and Wu failed to identify who received the gifts and make it possible for prosecutors to interview them."
Additionally, Eric Chen said that, Wu's friend Lee Bi-chun (
But Eric Chen said he found that the times when the receipts had been issued and turned in to the Presidential Office were times that "Person A" was abroad, so it was impossible for "Person A" to have submitted the receipts.
Meanwhile, regarding complaints from president and Wu that Eric Chen did not give them enough of a chance to explain the matter, the prosecutor on Friday said he had interviewed the first lady on Aug. 20 and decided to interview her again in the middle of October.
However, he said that Wu, through the Presidential Office, had declined to attend another prosecutors' interview citing health reasons.
Eric Chen also attempted, and failed to interview Wu when he completed an interview of the president at the Presidential Residence on Oct. 27.
The prosecutor said that on Nov. 1 he sent a letter requesting to question Wu, but his request was denied by the Presidential Office.
Eric Chen added that he decided not to wait any longer, as the evidence he had gathered had proved prosecutors' suspicions, and he decided to bring the case to court.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
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