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Chen in custody for money laundering

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-12 07:37

TAIPEI -- Former Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian was in custody Tuesday after being questioned in a money-laundering case.

Former Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian raises his hand-cuffed hands as he is led away from the prosecutor's office in Taipei, November 11, 2008. [Agencies]

Chen, 58, left a special prosecutor's office in handcuffs after more than five hours inside as about 300 police officers guarded the area to fend off any protests.

Chen raised his hands into the air to show his handcuffs to a crowd of media outside the prosecutor's office before he was pushed into a waiting car to be driven to a Taipei district courthouse.

But hours later, Chen was taken to a Taipei hospital, prompting the suspension of a court proceeding to determine whether he should be formally detained on corruption charges.

His lawyer Lai Ching-te said the Taipei district court ordered Chen to be evaluated for a possible injury he sustained earlier in the day en route to the court building.

There was no additional information on the circumstances of the injury.

As Chen was led away from the prosecutor's office, he could be heard shouting: "This is political persecution" and "Cheers for Taiwan".

Chen's defiance notwithstanding, millions of Taiwanese revile him for permitting his tenure to be mired in an atmosphere of systematic corruption.

Friends and close advisors have been imprisoned on a variety of graft charges, his wife is being tried for allegedly looting a special "presidential" fund, and Chen himself is facing a complex series of judicial probes.

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