＊ Jan 22nd 2009／TAIPEI
● A former president and the judiciary are both in the dock
CHEN SHUI-BIAN, Taiwan’s president from 2000 to 2008, this week pleaded not guilty at a hearing marking the start of his trial on corruption charges. Mr Chen, who ruled on a confrontational platform of independence from China, looked tired and dispirited, but was as combative as ever. “There is no way I can accept these charges and insults,” he told judges, after arriving at a Taipei court in handcuffs. His supporters are trying to ensure it is not just Mr Chen’s probity but also the integrity of Taiwanese justice that are on trial.
In one case he is alleged to have influenced the government to buy land from a company that bribed his wife, Wu Shu-chen. The couple is also charged with embezzlement from special presidential accounts, with forgery and with laundering ill-gotten money through Switzerland.
Mr Chen, who might face a life sentence, insists he is innocent and faces what amounts to political persecution. This week prosecutors produced two new charges, of extortion and profiteering in connection with the land deal. Mr Chen accused them of making Taiwan’s president seem like a local bully or mafia boss: “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
Mr Chen is very unpopular. And his case was dealt a blow later in the week when his son, daughter-in-law and brother-in-law all pleaded guilty to laundering large sums of money for the family.
Nevertheless, Mr Chen’s trial is a test for Taiwan’s two-decade-old democracy, which has already managed two peaceful transfers of power to the opposition. Many are heartened that corruption, long endemic in politics, is being attacked and that a former president can stand trial like a common citizen.
Critics, however, say recent judicial proceedings have been marred by sloppy improprieties, and, some allege, bias towards the Nationalist party, the Kuomintang or KMT, which took power last May under President Ma Ying-jeou. Mr Chen was imprisoned incommunicado for a month before he was charged, raising questions about the presumption of innocence. A panel of judges that released Mr Chen from prison without bail last month was mysteriously replaced by a new one that ordered his reimprisonment a fortnight later. Prosecutors had appealed and KMT politicians had complained, leading to suspicions of political interference. The same judges are presiding over his trial.
Bruce Jacobs, a Taiwan expert at Monash University in Australia, points out that recent corruption investigations have mainly been aimed at opposition politicians; prosecutors seem far less interested in investigating KMT figures. He also points to the “lack of discretion” in a remarkably tasteless recent incident: prosecutors involved in Mr Chen’s case performed a comic skit at a party at the justice ministry. To the glee of the audience, one is said to have mimicked the former president’s arrest by raising handcuffed hands above her head and shouting slogans. Shown on television, this outraged many.
Mr Ma’s spokesman denies any party-political bias among prosecutors, and insists the president respects judicial neutrality. But even it that is true, the judiciary’s lack of professionalism risks creating public cynicism about its independence, undermining both the drive against corruption and respect for the courts’ decisions.
■ 閱卷意外發現…… 鄭文龍：國民黨高官處理黨產污數十億
＊ 記者吳仁捷／台北報導
前總統陳水扁律師鄭文龍昨天探扁後，對外爆料指出，他調閱筆錄發現一名企業界證人供稱國民黨買賣黨產時，有一名有黨職的現任部長級以上官員曾貪污數十億元，遠較陳水扁遭指控的貪污金額超過數倍以上，他質疑特偵組為何不辦；鄭文龍說，他昨將此事向扁轉述，扁極為訝異。
● 一名企業界證人供認 特偵組為何不辦
至於該證人是誰、高官又是誰，鄭文龍說「現在還不到公布的時機」。鄭文龍昨天一步出北所，就告知趨前採訪的媒體「今天（談話）會很勁爆！」
他表示，律師團閱卷時，看到特偵組偵辦國務機要費相關案件，查知當初國民黨處理黨產的人員、有一名現位居部長級以上高官，處理黨產時貪瀆數十億，高出國務機要費數倍以上，但特偵組為什麼都不辦，目前已不了了之；鄭文龍說，律師團手上都有資料，而陳水扁看到資料後，也質疑特偵組為何都不辦。
此外，鄭文龍說，特偵組偵辦國務機要費案時，以不實事證聲押陳水扁，他出示陳鎮慧聲押書說明陳水扁確曾對前行政院長張俊雄、蘇貞昌及前政院副院長葉菊蘭等人提供兩千七百萬元的公務支出，但特偵組認為陳水扁未提供給這三人；他並說，陳鎮慧的聲押理由與陳水扁被聲押的理由相同，理由一模一樣，用不誠實手段聲押被告。
鄭文龍說明，兩千七百萬元包括三項，分別為交付張俊雄兩百萬（犒賞行政院長任內辛勞）、支應民進黨三二六和平反吞併大遊行兩千萬，與五百萬交付給前行政院副院長葉菊蘭（用於鄭南榕基金會）。鄭文龍認為，特偵組用不實資料、不實手法聲押陳水扁，法官可能也不察，因聲押過程未把事證提供律師，律師也不了解，但在閱卷後，律師都看到了，推翻聲押理由書中特偵組的不實指控。
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