Government prosecutors will file corruption charges against Taiwan's first lady, Wu Shu-chen, along with other officials in the government of President Chen Shui-bian, the high court prosecutor said on Friday.The high court will charge Chen's wife with corruption, faking evidence and faking documents in the case, involving the misuse of more than T$14.8 million (236,000 pounds) the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
This means that they are also almost certain to file charges against Chen Shui-bian, if this report is correct.
[Taiwan]
Prosecutors have now said they think they have enough evidence to charge Chen - if he wasn't protected by immunity, of course.
ReplyDeleteI think he has to resign. Senior officials said they thought he would if the report condemned him. If he still refuses the DPP may well support a recall motion. It would be a lot simpler if he stands aside, even if he believes he didn't do anything wrong.
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According to Taiwan News, prosecutors do, in fact, say that they have enough evidence to indict Chen Shui-bian -- but will wait until the end of his term to proceed.
I don't see how Chen has any choice now to not resign. The TSU is also officially now calling for a recall.
And no. This does NOT excuse Shih for what HE did. However, this development will nonetheless increase support for the blues and the media will paint Shih (erroneously) as a hero.
All in all, a very sad time for Taiwan.
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OK, kids... let's all say it together and try to get used to it: "PRESIDENT ANNETTE LU."
ReplyDeleteAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
It burns! It burns!!!!!!!!!
This isn't actually all that bad, providing Chen DOES resign. It appears (I stress the words "appears") he abused his position. For the good of the DPP and Taiwan itself he cannot stay on in this position. If he is innocent he will be acquitted at trial, if he is charged later.
ReplyDeleteShih had nothing to do with this. Although he can claim victory, the only victory is for the justice system, which investigated the charges. Besides, Chen was dragging the DPP down. I would be surprised if Annette Lu cannot do a better job.
How corrupt is Chen's family?
ReplyDeletewasn't his son-in-law also indicted for something related to 'insider trading' earlier this year?
So, the prosecutors believe that the family embezzeled half-a-million U.S. dollars from the government but they can't charge Pres. Chen? Is this type of immunity for national leaders in most countries around the world?
The family sounds like they're crooked as hell.h
Agree, sad time for Taiwan but in the long run this will be good for the country and the DPP, Taiwan needs an effective, non-corrupt opposition party. Mainland are light years behind Taiwan in this regard.
ReplyDeleteIf the allegations are true, then I think the best move would be for Chen to take responsibility and step down. If anything it would provide an interesting contrast against other individuals (we all know who they are) who hide behind immunity and other excuses.
ReplyDeleteIf the allegations are not true, then well, I'd like to say fight on, but all the stuff that's been going on lately has gotten me so cynical that I really don't know what good it would do.
I don't know what to say. It's ridiculous to think that Chen has been stealing such a tiny amount of cash...
ReplyDelete...but also, I have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I live in a Taiwan where you can take a US$400 million bribe that left a trail of dead bodies across two continents, and suffer nothing, and yet Wu can be indicted. In a Taiwan where Wu is indicted, but the killers of Lin Yi-hsiung's family walk free.
So I have to think about this for a while.
Michael
re: Lin Yi-hsiung
ReplyDeletewell, Michael, that was 26 years ago in a vastly different Taiwan. One would hope that if a similar crime occured today there would be a different result. I don't think it's 'the same Taiwan' at all. I hope not, anyway.
President Chen should step down even if he thinks he is innocent just as a political move. Sad, but he should, even given innocence. The Greens are just being weighed down too much by him, and if he is innocent, he has two hopes--Annette Lu pardons him before the investigation goes anywhere further or it goes to trial and he is exonerated. If he's not, really, $500,000 is very little, but it's still wrong.
ReplyDeleteFor perspective, because some would like to pretend there's some equivalence between Chen and let's say Philippines or S. Korea, the S. Korean president was found to have a n $800 million slush fund, which he had access to even after stepping down. In the Philippines, $684 million dollars of money stolen by Marcos and his family was returned by Swiss banks.
False allegations here and there...
ReplyDeleteChinese really don't think too highly of Taiwanese, do they?
With the same standards, I don't think there will any pan-blue politician left to run the circus.
Michael, the thing is that proving murder is more difficult than proving embezzlement. Plus, as was said, in the old days evidence would simply "disappear". The fact this could be traced at all rather shows things have got better.
ReplyDeleteNo, they haven't gotten better, raj. The Dark Side has simply switched tactics. The hate is simply never going to stop. Meanwhile $400 million man James Soong still walks free.
ReplyDeleteAnd the idea that things will let up with Annette Lu as President is simply laughable. There will be a lull. And then something new will begin. The Blues simply hate too much to ever let go.
Michael
The best thing those of us who believe in a law abiding society can do is to let the investigation run its course. I think that since 2004, the judicial branch has shown that it is capable of being impartial when they rightly refused to bow to pressure and rejected the insane "Chen shot himself" conspiracy theories, and the whole Sogo coupon scandal. I trust that they would not bring up an indictment unless there existed enough evidence to establish probable cause, and even then, the burden of proof will rest on them in a court of law.
ReplyDeleteYes there are people in the pan Blue camp who have gotten away with much worse. And yes, it is galling to see opportunists, hypocrites, and carpetbaggers like Shih, Song, and Chiu jump all over this. But we should not be afraid of a full investigation. If anything, fully cooperating and complying with one will show that unlike those calling for coups and inciting riots in the streets, we are capable of respecting the rule of law.
Chen might be guilty, or he might not be. That will be established through a thorough investigation. Not by lynch mobs in the streets or talking heads on cable TV. But we should never be above questioning our own beliefs or leaders. Let's not lower ourselves to the level of those who are incapable of such scrutiny.
I dunno Hai Tien. I think ultimately the investigation will clear them both. I do not think prosecutors will be able to show money flowing into Wu's private accounts -- if such evidence existed, the Blue media would be having a catlysmic orgasm over it. Hopefully the whole sordid legal framework that permits slush funds for every public official will be shut down. They are a devastating temptation.
ReplyDeleteMichael
I am over the moon with joy. These Presidential Office bastards ruined my life in the Diplomatic Quarter when I was on their side at the time. In addition, by unfairly firing me after I received top reviews and a top-notch letter of recommendation from Taiwan's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, they caused a lot of stress on my family. I talked about my unfair and illegal working conditions, about how Presidential Office people with novice backgrounds were incompetent and racist, and how Chen's PO crony and Japanese interpreter kwpt alcohol in the office and treated me most dishonorably.
ReplyDeleteI knew they were dirty, articulated it on Forumosa a hell of a lot, and today I feel bloody good.
Revenge is sweet!!! Bloody hell, it is damn sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Chewy, I knew I could count on you to focus entirely on the personal and inconsequential.
ReplyDeleteMichael
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Su’s comments yesterday aren’t encouraging at all (from Today’s Taipei Times):
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday came under attack in the legislature after saying that the president should not step down unless the final verdict in the case has been reached.
"An indictment is not a decision that a suspect is guilty. Whether or not the president should resign is a problem we should talk about after judges reach their final verdict, not now," Su said.
Earlier, in Taiwan News, I read that Su Tseng-chang took a more neutral stance saying that it was inappropriate to comment on what the President should do. Why he chose to go further with the statemens found in the Taipei Times has me puzzled -- unless he's getting orders from Chen, perhaps.
Regardless -- Su's latter comments only make things worse for the DPP. Very disappointing!
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Can't even contain himself/herself.
ReplyDeleteDiplomatic Quarter? hmmm....
And I knew I could count on you to support dirty, corrupt, and unprofessional people to the very end. Isn't life grand?
ReplyDeleteI don't support people, Chewy, but principles.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've certainly never sunk as low as kick people when they are down. Fortunately, your behavior only reflects on you.
Michael
I'm an adherent of the old testament. They kicked me and my Taiwanese family down when I had been loyal (try to find an anti-DPP post from me before May 21 2205), and now I am fully enjoying seeing the grim faces, excuses, and soul searching from the Party and the foreign apologists alike.
ReplyDeleteGood day to you sir!!!
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Jason at "Wandering to Tamshui" had this excerpt from Yam News (emphasis mine):
"We have succeeded! We have triumphed! " declared Shih, as firecrackers went off in celebration of their campaign's success in what campaign leaders claimed to be "forcing the prosecution into indicting the presidential couple." ...
LOL!
First off, I don't think Taiwanese (regardless of political stripes) should be exactly "celebrating" over this news -- unless, of course, you're only motivation is to increase the chances of the pan-blues to gain power in 2008.
Secondly, the fact that Shih Ming-teh believes that the red-shirts influenced the prosecutors shows that 1) he has a warped view of an "independent judiciary" and 2) he needs a professional evaluation on his delusions of grandeur.
What a dick!
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Why does everyone hate Annette Lu so much? She spent several years in jails for fighting for political freedom, from what I understand. Why don't people act a little more mature about this whole thing?
ReplyDeleteBut then I am a political ignoramus. I don't really trust people who yammer about politics too too constantly (M.T. somewhat excepted, of course).
On another note, Michael, don't you think you are being a bit harsh on that chewcorns guy? Now don't know what all the details are, but he didn't begin with personal attacks on you, but in the end he did make such attacks. Yeah, he does sound bitter, and yes, he does sound unfocussed. But so much of this resentment, or even Nietzshean resentiment of the red ant army kind, does come from people like him. The personal is political a great deal of the time.
Taiwanese bosses are THE potent symbol here, next to terrorists in the U.S. and...well, I won't go further. To get even more "inconsequential" I point to the recent Taiwanese movie Silk (directed by Chao-Bin Su), which most potently identifies the boss as a hated symbol in the person of Hashimoto's boss. This is one of the most iconic identifiers I've seen in a film to this day.
Thoth, you are right about Annette, I think she would have made a fab prez under other circumstances, fearless and battle-tested.
ReplyDeleteChewycorns and I have clashed before.
Michael
Ah, okay. I see (about chewycorns). Thanks for filling me in.
ReplyDeleteI guess a lot of people (who are not you or I) don't want Annette Lu because she is so opposed to possible intervention from China. They should just see what she does. I'm sure she's not stupid by any means.
That comment about bosses was quite perceptive. Have you read Silin's _Leadership and Values_ about bosses here in Taiwan?
ReplyDeleteMichael
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNo, Michael, I have not read Silin's book. I would like to read it, since you mention that it is related to the issues I was talking about. The thing is, it isn't even that easily available on Amazon. I'll keep my eye out for it, or borrow a copy next time I go to Taipei or to Canada.
It is not difficult to see people's feeling of oppression at the hands of bosses, and their seething resentment. Talking to people, whether on a superfical basis, or in a more probing discussion will always unearth this sense of suffering, this oddly submitting sensibility to the tyranny of bosses. People have to recover a little bit from the Confucian mentality of believing all authority figures are sacroscanct. The same sort of difficulty with paternalism (and related -isms) exist in Japanese culture, as I discovered reading some of Murakami's books (particularly, Underground).
Thoth,
ReplyDeleteSurely you mean unfocused? Well, at least I know how to spell the word properly. After all, we are not in Canada or the UK right now--the American spelling should be used. I forgive you though--you're a Newfie after all!!!!
For your information, I am not bitter or a red-ant supporter for that matter. Furthermore, what have I described that is unfocused? To the contrary, I think I've been quite specific in regards to my details. Anyways, I'm too well renumerated in my new position to be really bitter. But you are right---politics is personal and one should never forget or forgive completely. The PO people screwed with me royally, and I am damn pleased that the world knows how dirty they are now. Turton has been a DPP fanatic calling Chen "his man" only a few days ago.
Anyways a great week for me. Watching politicos who have wronged you lose face before the world is damn sweet!!!!!!!!!
:)
You ignorance, prejudice, and bitterness only speak for you, Chewycorns. Sorry. That's all I have to say. What a small person you are, who isn't happy unless you are casting stones at someone. Strange. I'm lot leaving here with my Canadian accent and spelling. I am going to continue teaching kids those same qualities, of which I am proud. Newfoundlanders? They're cool!
ReplyDeleteChewycorns? You have no love in you. No manners. No grace. No tolerance. Just spleen. Noise pollution.
Sorry for for the typos, Michael. I guess I get a little annoyed.
ReplyDeleteI looked up chewycorns on google. I was surprised to see a crapload of stuff from this guy. He posts millions of investive-ridden (stuff like maple-leaf Nazi commie lefties doing and saying blah blah blah). This is only some of what he wrote in a forum on Taiwanho.
There is nothing to be done with such people. I wish I could call it right-wing babble. But that stuff also exists in the left of the spectrum, too. You only have to visit places like wsws.org to see what I mean. That's not the least of it.
Why on earth are you telling thoth to use American spelling? Nor are we in US right now. But, I hope thoth will be kind enough to forgive you though, you're Chinese after all. I have seen that "I'm neutral" trick one too many times.
ReplyDeleteAnyways a great week for me. Watching politicos who have wronged you lose face before the world is damn sweet!!!!!!!!!
Without the bitterness, sweet ain't
sweet.