Taiwan Today

The daughter of former President Chen Shui-bian has been charged with perjury, according to the Taipei District Prosecutor’s office June 3. The Special Investigative Unit determined Chen Hsing-yu gave untruthful testimony in the state affairs expenses and money laundering cases brought against the former president. Her husband, Chao Chien-ming, and younger brother Chen Chih-chung have been named co-defendants in the perjury case. In related news, prosecutors also charged Diana Ming-hsun Chen, former chairwoman and CEO of Taipei 101’s management company, with perjury in the case against her for buying a public position. It is alleged Chen Hsing-yu committed perjury in Taipei District Court by denying knowledge about the opening of Chen family bank accounts overseas or of money transfers into them. During his testimony, Chen Chih-chung placed all responsibility on his mother, Wu Shu-chen. However, financial specialists testified that Chen Chih-chung communicated with them about handling overseas assets, and Chen Hsing-yu frequently signed documents as beneficiary of the Chen family’s overseas bank accounts. During SIU investigations of abuses stemming from the former Chen administration’s second financial reform, Diana Ming-hsun Chen admitted she had given Wu Shu-chen NT$10 million (US$306,912) to secure chairmanship of Grand Cathay Securities Corp. However, when testifying in court, she recanted and failed to corroborate the testimony of former Minister of Finance Lin Chuan, former Office of the President Deputy General Secretary Ma Yung-cheng and others. During a former Anti-corruption Investigation Center inquiry, Chen Hsing-yu, her brother Chen Chih-chung and her husband Chao Chien-ming denied providing sales receipts to Wu Shu-chen to pass off as state expenses. Instead they testified to assisting the former president by dining with and providing presents to guests. Wu Shu-chen later admitted some of the claims made on the state coffers were in fact personal expenses of Chen Hsing-yu and Chen Chih-chung. The provision of the Criminal Code pertaining to perjury stipulates that in instances where witnesses crucially related to the circumstances of a case collude in their testimony and bear false witness, they are punishable by up to seven years of imprisonment. If the charges against Chen Hsing-yu stand, she is likely to be imprisoned.