Hydrablog

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/world/asia/12taiwan.html
November 12, 2008
Taiwan Detains Ex-President
By DAVID BARBOZA [Taiwan] [ROC] [former president Chen Shui-ban] [one leader of indigenous independent movement] [now the KMT back in charge and making agreements with the mainland per tradition] [is this political payback?] [it is Taiwan still the politicall corrupt place it was 30 years ago when the KMT rules everything?] [***]
SHANGHAI — Chen Shui-bian, the former president of Taiwan, was detained by police in Taipei on Tuesday after prosecutors sought his formal arrest on corruption and money laundering charges, [***]according to Taipei television.

Mr. Chen, who served as president from 2000 until earlier this year and headed the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, was led to court in handcuffs Tuesday afternoon. He paused briefly before cameras, raised his arms up over his head and shouted: “Long Live Taiwanese independence” and “political oppression.” [***]

The detention was part of a widening corruption investigation that has already ensnared several of Mr. Chen’s senior aides, as well as his wife, son, daughter and brother- in-law, each of whom has been named a defendant in the case. Mr. Chen’s wife is now on trial in Taipei for money laundering. [****]

Mr. Chen, 57, has denied any wrongdoing and accused his successor, Ma Ying-jeou, and the ruling Koumintang Party of a politically motivated attack on him and his family and suggested that his strong support for Taiwan’s independence , behind the investigation. [****]

Mr. Ma succeeded Mr. Chen in May and has pushed for warmer relations between mainland China and Taiwan. Last week, officials from Beijing met in Taiwan with Mr. Ma and other high-ranking officials, the highest level exchange in since the end of the civil war in 1949, although the encounter provoked strong protests.

Mr. Chen served eight years as a populist leader known for his tough, anti-China rhetoric, but grew increasingly unpopular after his wife was charged with corruption in 2006 and his son-in-law was arrested on insider trading charges.

A Taipei judge was presiding over a hearing with Mr. Chen, and some political analysts expected that the former president would be formally charged Tuesday night. A spokesman for the court refused to comment.

Chen Yun-nan, a spokesman for the Taipei prosecutor, told Agence France-Press: “We are seeking approval of the Taipei district court to take him into custody.”

Prosecutors are looking into whether Mr. Chen embezzled money while serving as president and whether his family members and aides were involved in laundering millions of dollars worth of campaign funds. [***]
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