Chen Shui-bian, the former president of Taiwan, left a detention center before the start of his corruption trial on Thursday. (Nicky Loh/Reuters)March 26, 2009
By MICHAEL WINES
The New York Times
BEIJING — The corruption trial of Taiwan’s former president, Chen Shui-bian, opened in a heavily guarded Taipei courtroom on Thursday, hours after Mr. Chen blasted the proceedings as a “tool for political suppression and persecution” by his successor.
Mr. Chen, who claimed the presidency in 2000 with a pledge to end political corruption, faces charges of bribery and embezzlement that could draw a sentence of life in prison. He resigned from Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party last August after admitting that his wife had wired 700 million Taiwanese dollars ($21 million) in campaign funds to accounts in Singapore, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.
Prosecutors since have charged that he stole or took bribes totaling more than a billion Taiwanese dollars ($30 million), sometimes in return for political favors involving land deals. His wife, Wu Shu-chen, his son and his daughter-in-law pleaded guilty last month to money laundering, and Mrs. Wu also pleaded guilty to forgery.
But Mr. Chen has insisted that he is innocent, saying his wife, then Taiwan’s first lady, handled campaign money and that he was ignorant of the dealings. He has maintained the charges are a plot by Taiwan’s current president, Ma Ying-jeou, to win favor with China’s government.
During his eight years in office, Mr. Chen was a fierce advocate of independence from China, which still claims sovereignty over Taiwan nearly 60 years after a civil war split the island’s government from the mainland. Mr. Ma has favored much closer relations with Beijing.
On Wednesday, Mr. Chen issued a statement in which he charged that his conviction “was prepared in advance and the sentence was already determined.”
“In order to win favors and protection from Beijing, the KMT” — the Kuomintang, Mr. Ma’s political party — “has launched a purge against me.”
Although the evidence against Mr. Chen is strong, some analysts have said, the government’s handling of the case has been less than deft. Prosecutors were criticized after they participated in a skit before hundreds of Justice Ministry officials which clearly mocked Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen has won sympathy by claiming that his detention without bail — and, at first, without any contact with his family — has been unjustly harsh.
Mr. Chen was brought to court in Taipei surrounded by guards and in handcuffs.
J. Bruce Jacobs, a Taiwan scholar at Australia’s Monash University, is among about 20 experts who recently sent letters to Taiwan’s justice minister and President Ma raising concerns about the fairness of the prosecution.
“The prosecutors have been going a bit wild,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday, “and how this trial is conducted will be critical. This is an important landmark in Taiwan’s whole process of democratization.”
The trial opened with testimony from a businessman who said he had arranged a Taipei land deal in which the land’s owner offered Ms. Wu a $11.8 million “commission” in 2003 to push the government to purchase the property. Mr. Chen testified that he knew his wife had received 200 million Taiwanese dollars for the sale, but he denied that the businessman, Tsai Ming-chieh, had talked to him about it.
The trial is expected to last until mid-April, court officials said.
Mr. Chen, who claimed the presidency in 2000 with a pledge to end political corruption, faces charges of bribery and embezzlement that could draw a sentence of life in prison. He resigned from Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party last August after admitting that his wife had wired 700 million Taiwanese dollars ($21 million) in campaign funds to accounts in Singapore, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.
Prosecutors since have charged that he stole or took bribes totaling more than a billion Taiwanese dollars ($30 million), sometimes in return for political favors involving land deals. His wife, Wu Shu-chen, his son and his daughter-in-law pleaded guilty last month to money laundering, and Mrs. Wu also pleaded guilty to forgery.
But Mr. Chen has insisted that he is innocent, saying his wife, then Taiwan’s first lady, handled campaign money and that he was ignorant of the dealings. He has maintained the charges are a plot by Taiwan’s current president, Ma Ying-jeou, to win favor with China’s government.
During his eight years in office, Mr. Chen was a fierce advocate of independence from China, which still claims sovereignty over Taiwan nearly 60 years after a civil war split the island’s government from the mainland. Mr. Ma has favored much closer relations with Beijing.
On Wednesday, Mr. Chen issued a statement in which he charged that his conviction “was prepared in advance and the sentence was already determined.”
“In order to win favors and protection from Beijing, the KMT” — the Kuomintang, Mr. Ma’s political party — “has launched a purge against me.”
Although the evidence against Mr. Chen is strong, some analysts have said, the government’s handling of the case has been less than deft. Prosecutors were criticized after they participated in a skit before hundreds of Justice Ministry officials which clearly mocked Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen has won sympathy by claiming that his detention without bail — and, at first, without any contact with his family — has been unjustly harsh.
Mr. Chen was brought to court in Taipei surrounded by guards and in handcuffs.
J. Bruce Jacobs, a Taiwan scholar at Australia’s Monash University, is among about 20 experts who recently sent letters to Taiwan’s justice minister and President Ma raising concerns about the fairness of the prosecution.
“The prosecutors have been going a bit wild,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday, “and how this trial is conducted will be critical. This is an important landmark in Taiwan’s whole process of democratization.”
The trial opened with testimony from a businessman who said he had arranged a Taipei land deal in which the land’s owner offered Ms. Wu a $11.8 million “commission” in 2003 to push the government to purchase the property. Mr. Chen testified that he knew his wife had received 200 million Taiwanese dollars for the sale, but he denied that the businessman, Tsai Ming-chieh, had talked to him about it.
The trial is expected to last until mid-April, court officials said.
7 comments:
HUN SEN YOU ARE NEXT.............like the guy chon li from the movie bloodsport said to vandamme ...LOL "You Are Next" LOL
Only we CAN discipline our Cambodian leaders in the court of independent trials will Cambodia be a country of forward looking... for the people of Cambodia. But it seems to be years away... or even no way...
Hun Sen controls way too much of the national police, the military, the ministry of interior and the judicial system though family members, very close-knit associates and political lackeys that is NEAR IMPOSSIBLE to even try and place Hun Sen under corruption charges and arrest. Only when these ties can be severed and Hun Sen no longer has control over such constituents, can we begin to de-power Hun Sen.
It may be a slow process, but we will overcome Hun Sen's tyranny of dictatorship.
Hun sen is very power, but in this dog eats dog world. Some other dog will eat him soon.
What comes around goes around sooner or later.
Yep, I hope pouk Ah Scam Rainxy get the message.
THIS SHOULD SERVED AS A DETERENT FOR Huynh Sen and company.
The time is act is...... now for Khmer Peoples Power!
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