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Bigwigs took funds, Chen Hsin-yu says as relatives charged
The daughter of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian  lashed out yesterday, dragging other Democratic Progressive Party figures into the fray, as prosecutors charged her parents and three other relatives over a money-laundering case.
On top of that drama,  one of the relatives attempted suicide yesterday by swallowing  sleeping pills while being questioned by prosecutors.
Mr Chen's daughter, Chen Hsin-yu,  accused DPP leaders of trying to distance themselves from the former leader in the hope of safeguarding their images.
Mobbed by reporters, she  emotionally accused former Taiwanese premiers Frank Hsieh Chang-ting  and Su Tseng-chang,  and other heavyweights of trying to shift all the blame when they took money from her father and failed to fully declare their campaign funds.
'This is plain political struggle, aimed at condemning  our family to death.
'Before I die, I want to speak up, and I can't die without an explanation. Did those who took  money from my father to finance their campaigns fully declare their campaign funds?
'Did they declare the rest of their funds?' she asked.
'Do you believe Su Tseng-chang did not get money? Or Frank Hsieh Chang-ting did not get money? Or [Kaohsiung Mayor] Chen Chu  did not get it?'
Her comments came after the DPP had considered sacking  Chen Shui-bian and his family in a bid to minimise the damage after Swiss  judicial authorities uncovered alleged money-laundering involving  his son Chen Chih-chung and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching.  Chen Shui-bian also admitted late last week that his wife, Wu Shu-chen, had wired US$21 million abroad without his knowledge.
Chen Shui-bian,  who quit the party on Friday, claimed the funds had not been  illegally laundered,  but were 'what remained from previous campaign donations', with which he confessed he had 'broken the law by failing to fully declare'.
The penalty for that would be a fine of up to NT$300,000 (HK$74,768), as opposed to up to seven years in jail for money-laundering.
His admission triggered an outcry by DPP supporters, who flooded the party headquarters with calls, some vowing to leave the party.
Lawmakers of the ruling Kuomintang  said the former president's daughter was trying to shift the focus from the alleged money-laundering.
Mr Su and Mr Hsieh later said they understood the frustration of the  ex-president's daughter, but they strongly denied taking any funds from  Chen Shui-bian during their election campaigns.
Chen Chu admitted having  received campaign aid from Chen Shui-bian, but said it was 'natural' for the cash-strapped DPP to receive aid from him because he had been party chairman.
DPP Secretary General Wang To  said its disciplinary committee would investigate the case and make a decision in less than three months.
Prosecutors officially listed  Chen Shui-bian, his wife, son, daughter-in-law and brother-in-law as defendants in the case yesterday.
Prosecutor Chu Chao-liang  said prosecutors had questioned the brother-in-law, Wu Ching-mao,  and his wife, Chen Chun-ying,  over their alleged roles in helping the ex-president's wife wire the money abroad.
Chen Chun-ying  was later rushed to hospital for emergency treatment after being questioned for five hours, Mr Chu said without elaborating.
But Wu later claimed that his  wife had 'attempted suicide by  swallowing a number of sleeping  pills due to strong pressure and  unreasonably harsh interrogations by prosecutors'.
Separately, prosecutors also questioned former Investigation  Bureau director Yeh Sheng-mao,  who was alleged to have tried to cover up the scandal by holding up a report by bureau agents in February on the  alleged money-laundering.



Chen's daughter drags top  DPP figures into scandal