Taiwan ex-leader jailed for life
Taiwan’s former President Chen Shui-bian has been sentenced to life
in prison after being found guilty of corruption by a court in Taipei.
Mr Chen was charged with embezzlement, taking bribes and money
laundering, involving a total of $15m (£9m) while in office from
2000-2008.
Mr Chen had denied the charges, saying they were politically
motivated.His wife, Wu Shu-chen, already jailed for perjury in the case,
was also sentenced to life for corruption.
Taipei District Court convicted Mr Chen on six charges and Mrs Wu on
seven charges. The were also fined $15m.“Chen Shui-bian and Wu Shu-chen
were sentenced to life in prison because Chen has done grave damage to
the country and Wu because she was involved in corruption deals as the
first lady,” said court spokesman Huang Chun-ming.
A spokesman for Mr Chen said the sentence was “illegal”, pointing to
a decision to replace the judges in mid-trial. The former president has
said he will appeal.
Mr Chen has previously said the charges were constructed by the
ruling Kuomintang (KMT) government in a political vendetta.
He has admitted accepting money but said it was campaign
contributions.Several dozen of his supporters were outside the court on
Friday as the verdict was given, waving placards declaring his
innocence.Mr Chen and his wife were both sentenced to life for
embezzling $3.15m (£1.9m) from a special presidential fund.
They received lesser sentences on the charges related to accepting at
least $9m in bribes from a Taiwanese company to help it sell a piece of
land to the government and of accepting nearly $3m more in kickbacks for
helping a contractor gain a government project.
Mrs Wu had already been sentenced on 2 September to one year in
prison for perjury for asking her children to lie in court.The
three-year case also involved close family members of the couple, as
well as former aides and government officials.
Their son and daughter-in-law received sentences ranging from 20-30
months for money laundering. Other relatives received suspended
sentences. Two former advisors were given sentences of 16 and 20 years
in prison.
The case, involving revelations of corruption at the highest levels,
has gripped the nation, says the BBC’s Cindy Sui in Taipei.It is
unprecedented in Taiwan’s short history as a democracy. Direct
presidential elections were first held in 1996, after one-party rule
ended in the 1980s.Many expected a guilty verdict but some believed the
trial was political revenge on the part of the new ruling party.Mr Chen
and his Democratic Progressive Party favoured Taiwan’s independence from
the Chinese mainland, angering Beijing as well as the pro-China
Kuomintang (KMT) in Taiwan.
-BBC
|