Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) may face a second round of indictments, prosecutors said yesterday.
The Special Investigation Panel (SIP) plans to question the former president on whether he accepted bribes from former Taipei Financial Center Corp chairwoman Diana Chen (陳敏薰) and former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒).
Prosecutors say that Diana Chen gave the former first lady NT$10 million (US$300,000) in exchange for her seat as president of Grand Cathay Securities Corp (大華證券).
‘POLITICAL DONATION’
While both Wu and Diana Chen admitted to the money transaction, both denied it was bribery and said the money was a form of “political donation.”
Last month, when Diana Chen was summoned to give her testimony at the Taipei District Court, she told the court that she wanted to make a contribution to the country by donating money to the Democratic Progressive Party through Wu.
Koo is suspected of illegally giving the former first family as much as NT$300 million.
Prosecutors say that the former president used election campaign funds and classified foreign relations as excuses to ask Koo for donations that the former president and his wife then pocketed. This may constitute influence peddling, a charge that may be added to the original charges of embezzlement, corruption, forgery and other crimes, prosecutors said.
RELEASE
Meanwhile, Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) has scheduled a hearing on Thursday to decide if Chen Shui-bian will remain incarcerated at the Taipei Detention Center where he is being held. Prosecutors have said it is necessary to jail the former president to prevent him from colluding with witnesses or absconding.
SIP spokesperson Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said prosecutors would request that the former president remain in detention because “the reasons for detention still apply.”
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
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