Three relatives of former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian Wednesday pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering, in the latest development of a high-profile corruption scandal implicating the ex-leader, reproted dpa.
Chen's son Chen Chih-chung, daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching and brother-in-law Wu Ching-mao all pleaded guilty in a pre-trial hearing over their alleged roles in laundering money abroad on behalf of Chen during his time as president between 2000 and 2008.
During a hearing at the Taipei District Court, Wu was the first to admit helping his sister, Wu Shu-chen, wife of the ex-president, launder money abroad, followed by Chen's son and daughter-in-law. The session was open to a limited group of observers, including journalists.
"I am willing to transfer the money back to Taiwan" in exchange for pardon for wrongdoing, Chen's son told the court after pleading guilty to money laundering.
The amount Chen said he would wire back to Taiwan include 21 million US dollars now frozen by Swiss authorities and 17 million US dollars kept outside Taiwan.
The son also surprised the judges and prosecutors by revealing that his mother kept another 17.9 million US dollars worth of funds and jewels "somewhere" and he was willing to inform them of their whereabouts.
But he insisted he had no idea whether all those funds were obtained by his parents illegally or not. If the funds came from illegal sources, he would hand them over to the government. If not, he was willing to donate all of them to the needy, he said.
The fund frozen by Swiss authorities was the key to the exposure of the alleged corruption scandal in July and subsequent indictment of Chen in November on charges of taking bribes, embezzling secret state funds, influence peddling, blackmail, money laundering and forging documents.
Suspecting money laundering due to unusual fund flows at two Swiss bank accounts in Cayman Islands, Swiss judicial authorities alerted Taiwan in July, forcing Chen to admit in August his wife had wired 21 million US dollars abroad without his knowledge. But Chen insisted the money was left over from previous campaign donations.
Chen has been placed under detention since December 30. He was brought before court for a hearing on Monday in connection to alleged bribe-taking in a land deal and a construction project. He will be summoned to another hearing scheduled on February 24 concerning money laundering. Other hearings will be scheduled for the embezzlement and document forgery charges against Chen.
His wheelchair-bound wife, who is paralyzed from waist down, will be summoned to a two-day pre-trial hearing on February 11-12 on alleged bribe-taking, embezzlement, money laundering and forgery of documents.