Taiwan ex-president cleared of one fraud charge

Aug 26, 2011, 7:37 GMT

Taipei - A court in Taiwan on Friday cleared former president Chen Shui-bian of one of the many charges against him for fraud during his time in office.

The High Court ruled that the former leader, already serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence on another conviction, used money from a special state affairs fund for legitimate government business, court spokesman Chen Chin-chiao said.

A district court had earlier convicted Chen of embezzling it.

'The reason for the not-guilty verdict is that use of the state affairs fund is flexible with differing perspectives on what it's for,' Chen's lawyer Cheng Wen-lung said. 'The first judge made an extreme ruling on the case.'

The court also ruled Friday that Chen was guilty of money laundering and perjury, adding two years and eight months to his sentence, the court spokesman said. His lawyer said he would appeal.

His current sentence is for accepting favours in a government property acquisition deal. That verdict, backed by the Supreme Court, cannot be appealed.

The court on Friday also added 11.5 years to the sentence of the former first lady, Wu Shu-jen, on a range of charges.

She was originally sentenced to 17 and half years alongside her husband but has not done any time behind bars because of ill health since she was in an accident in 1985 that left her in a wheelchair.

Chen was first charged with graft and money laundering in 2006. The charges involve a combined 20 million US dollars and other members of the former first family.

The ex-president, who was a member of today's opposition Democratic Progressive Party and served from 2000 to 2008, has denied the charges, calling them a political plot by the now-ruling Nationalist Party.

Chen's push for formal independence from China enraged Beijing. Cross-Straits ties have warmed since the current government took power in 2008.