Taiwan's former president jailed in corruption probe

[struggle4progress]

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

Chen Shui-bian, once an anticorruption crusader, was detained Tuesday on charges that he embezzled millions of dollars in public funds
By Jonathan Adams
from the November 12, 2008 edition

... Taiwan TV showed Mr. Chen being led in handcuffs from a prosecutor's office to a courthouse-bound car, as police lined the streets. He raised his cuffed hands before getting into the car, yelling "Political persecution!" and "Go Taiwan!"

Late Tuesday night he was taken to a hospital and reportedly claimed to have been injured by police while in custody ...

While Chen has not been charged with any crime, he is suspected of embezzling millions in public funds while he was president, and laundering that money by wiring it to foreign bank accounts. Two of his key aides and others have been detained without charge in the case, and his wife is also a suspect.

The ex-president has admitted that his wife wired $20 million to foreign bank accounts, but denies any wrongdoing. He claimed in an August press conference that the money was leftover campaign donations, that he didn't know about his wife's massive wire transfers until early this year, and that when he learned of the transfers he decided to donate all the money to further Taiwan's diplomacy ...



Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1112/p04s01-woap.html