Wu Shu-jen and Chen Siblings Convicted of Perjury

 Wu Shu-jen and Chen Siblings Convicted of Perjury

Sources: All Taipei newspapers

September 2, 2009

The Taipei District Court yesterday handed down its rulings on the widely reported perjury case of the former First Family, and all of the five defendants were convicted. The case involved former First Lady Wu Shu-jen, her son Chen Chih-chung, her daughter Chen Hsin-yu, and her son-in-law Chao Chien-ming, as well as Diana Chen, former chairwoman of the Taipei Financial Center (Taipei 101). Wu Shu-jen was given a two-year sentence, commuted to one year because of a new law. The Chen siblings and Chao were given a one-year sentence, but commuted to six months. Diana Chen was given a one-and-a-half year sentence. They may appeal to the Taiwan Provincial High Court, the appellate court.

After handing down the rulings, the collegiate bench neither lifted the overseas travel ban on Chen Hsin-yu, nor suspended the sentences of the Chen family even though they had admitted wrongdoings. The main ground was that the collegiate bench considered that all four defendants were still involved in other severe criminal activities. Chao Chien-ming’s Taiwan Development Co. insider trading case was still pending trial. Wu Shu-jen and Chen Chih-chung were implicated in several other cases being investigated by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The SIU was still investigating whether the Chen siblings and Chao Chien-ming had been involved in felony corruption by providing their personal invoices to Wu Shu-jen to claim the State Affairs Funds (SAF). The SIU was also still investigating cases involving the Chen siblings’ use of the SAF secret funds for their personal expenses while their father Chen Shui-bian was the President, and whether Chen Shui-bian had asked them to commit perjury.

The legal ground cited to hand down Diana Chen’s sentence was that she had given contradictory testimonies on different occasions. She told the SIU prosecutors last year that she had asked for the chairperson post of Grand Cathay Securities Co. from Wu Shu-jen. However, she changed her testimony on April 2 this year, saying that she had never mentioned the chairmanship to the former First Lady, but merely engaged in chitchat with Wu and given her NT$ 10 million as a political contribution to the DPP at the Presidential Residence. The Taipei District Court ruled that the money given to Wu Shu-jen was a quid pro quo payment, not a political contribution to the DPP.

The sentences of the Chen siblings and Chao Chien-ming were not suspended. However, since they met the stipulations in the Statute of Sentence Commutation, which came into effect yesterday, they were expected to choose to render community service instead of spending any time in prison if permitted by the prosecutors. The former First Lady will definitely not go to jail because of her fragile health conditions.

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