Taiwan court starts hearing ex-leader's new embezzlement case

Nov 10, 2009, 11:36 GMT

   Taipei - A Taiwan court Tuesday began hearing a new embezzlement case involving ex-president Chen Shui-bian, as he was facing a probe into allegations that he laundered around 40 million US dollars in Palau.

   The Taipei District Court held a closed-door hearing on Chen's alleged embezzlement of 330,000 US dollars in secret diplomatic funds during his time as president, a court official said.

   Chen, already sentenced to life imprisonment in September over corruption in a separate high-profile graft scandal, was charged by prosecutors in the same month for allegedly stealing a total of 330,000 US dollars in secret diplomatic funds during his 11 overseas state visits between 2000 and 2006.

   Prosecutors said Chen gave the money to his son, who studied in the United States at that time. Chen has denied the charges.

   The hearing came as investigators were launching fresh probes into the latest allegations that the ex-president had laundered funds in Palau, one of 23 countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

   Chen is suspected of routing some 40 million US dollars in 2005 through Palau's Pacific Savings Bank to the United States and other countries, according to cable news channel TVBS which broadcast a recent interview with Palau President Johnson Toribiong.

   In the interview, Toribiong confirmed a suspicious transaction took place and sought legal assistance from Taiwan.

   'Some 40 million US dollars went through the bank in 2005. I do not know where the money came from and where it went to. We have asked for judicial assistance from Taiwan [to probe this matter],' he said on TVBS.

   The Pacific Savings Bank collapsed in 2007, TVBS said.

   Chen served two terms as Taiwan's president from 2000-2008. On September 11, the Taipei District Court sentenced him to a life term on corruption charges, including embezzling state funds and money laundering.

   Chen denied the charges and called the sentencing political persecution by President Ma Ying-jeou's government.