Further NT$740m linked to Chens

Prosecutors in Taiwan have discovered an extra NT$740 million (HK$172 million) in funds held by the scandal-tainted former first family besides the US$21 million that they had wired abroad.

In the latest development of the corruption scandal implicating ex-president Chen Shui-bian and his family, a businesswoman admitted yesterday that she had helped Mr Chen's wife, Wu Shu-chen, deliver that amount of cash in late 2006.

Tu Li-ping, a board member of Yuanta Securities, told Taipei District Court that during an anti-corruption campaign against Mr Chen in late 2006, Wu had asked her to help her brother, Wu Ching-mao, keep the money in a safe place.

Tan Fu, Ms Tu's lawyer, later confirmed her statement.

'The first lady asked for [Tu's] help and she drove [Wu Ching-mao] to Yuanta,' Mr Tan said.

He said the brother counted the money in an office, and his client was 'very surprised' that it totalled NT$740 million. Ms Tu had later persuaded the former first lady to let Yuanta manage the fund for her.

Ms Tu was questioned by the court about her role in an alleged bribe given to the former first family in 2005 in a bank merger case. She had been questioned by prosecutors of the special investigation taskforce for more than seven hours on Thursday night, and the taskforce sought the court's permission to detain her.