Taiwanese prosecutors yesterday sought a 12-year jail sentence for a former chief aide of President Chen Shui-bian, accused of taking bribes and insider trading.
Chen Che-nan was charged with corruption and breach of trust allegedly committed during his 2000-03 term as deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, prosecutors said in an indictment against him.
He is accused of taking a NT$6 million ($1.43 million) bribe in 2002 from Liang Po-hsun, a bankrupt businessman who had fled to the mainland but returned to the island in April and surrendered to judicial authorities. The indictment noted that Mr Liang asked Chen Che-nan to help him avoid a trial, but the aide allegedly took the money without taking any action.
Prosecutors said that while serving as deputy secretary-general to the president, Chen Che-nan also used his position to obtain inside information for stock investments, from which he had made illicit profits of NT$1.6 million.
The former aide has denied the charges against him.
The indictment of the aide came as Huang Fang-yen, the family doctor of President Chen, admitted to prosecutors investigating the first lady's alleged role in an influence-peddling case that he had accepted about NT$1 million worth of department store gift vouchers from a businessman.
