Taiwan's Ex-President Gets Life Sentence for Corruption

Chen Shui-bian was the first Taiwanese president to come from a party other than Chaing Kai-shek's Kuomintang [KMT]. He served eight years in office, years marked by a strong pro-independence policy. He has just received a life sentence for corruption. In Taiwan, whether this is the result of a legal prosecution or a political persecution largely depends on whether one is pro-KMT or a supporter of Mr. Chen's Democratic Progressive Party [DPP]. The evidence suggests that the sentence is a bit harsh but Mr. Chen looks to be guilty. At the same time, the case reeks of political manipulation.

A Taiwan district court found him guilty of embezzling the equivalent of US$3.15 million. The court also convicted him on charges relating to US$9 million in bribes he accepted related to a government land deal. Further, the court found for the prosecution on charges of money laundering and forgery. His wife also got a life sentence for similar charges, and his son, daughter and their spouses got terms ranging from 6 to 30 months.

Mr. Chen has been in detention since December because the judiciary feared he was a flight risk and that there could be some witness tampering. His supporters argue that that detention hurt his ability to participate in his own defense. In addition, there was a change of judge in mid-trial, the replacement being a man seen as hostile to the former president. Under any legal system, these would be sufficient grounds for an appeal; in Taiwan, all life sentences are automatically appealed, so even without the appearance of a flawed trial, Mr. Chen would have another day in court.

Having made the transition from authoritarian regime to democracy several years ago, this trial is a measure of how well-established that democracy is. An independent judiciary free from political tampering is one of the cornerstones of a democratic regime. The investigation started about an hour after Mr. Chen left office, and prosecutors say that they would have started proceedings sooner but as president, Mr. Chen was immune to such action. That speaks to the validity of the action. Moreover as the Christian Science Monitor reported on Friday, "Last August, he [Mr. Chen] admitted that his wife had wired more than $20 million abroad. But he claimed the funds were leftover campaign contributions, not dirty money." Surely, leftover money should remain in the country to be used for the DPP's next campaign.

Conversely in 1979, Mr. Chen angered the KMT establishment when he defended anti-government agitators in what was known as the "Kaohsiung Incident." Robin Kwong, writing in the Financial Times noted, "Mr Chen's wife was paralysed from the waist down when she was repeatedly run over by a car in 1985, an incident many linked to efforts by the then authoritarian government to silence Mr Chen." It is not beyond belief that the KMT, upon returning to power, decided to go after Mr. Chen and shut him up once and for all.

The people of Taiwan appear to be suffering from scandal fatigue here, much as Americans by August 1974 were sick to death of Watergate. Besides, the KMT just took a hit because of its rather FEMA-like response to Typhoon Morakot that killed 670 Taiwanese. It would appear that Taiwan is rapidly becoming a healthy democracy since the people are suspicious of both the main political parties and both parties have much for which to atone.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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