Chen Found not guilty of Embezzling Diplomatic Funds

Martial law???

Edison Chen’s cock?

A computer “belonging” to Tsai is “found” with lots of kiddie porn on it.

[quote=“Mick”]…
As to whether or not he got a fair trial, changing judges seemed like political influence trying to manipulate the outcome, I don’t know if there was or wasn’t from a legal perspective beyond all reasonable doubt that the money was indeed from bribes rather than campaign expenses. I seem to remember there was quite a bit of solid evidence and testimony that substantiated the claim, along with the land in question being sold well under the market value.

I also agree with Vorkosigan that Taiwan and the opposition have been doing much better with Chen out of the way, and with Ma’s popularity not so great, and I believe if he goes ahead and signs ECFA, once the details are known, plenty of ammunition to attack him will be available. So am wondering what secret weapon the KMT will use to boost popularity.[/quote]

Well, he learned it from the KMT … they are masters in this kind of business deals … like selling off stolen property … under the market value …

[quote=“Vorkosigan”]Tommy, Chen never claimed that the millions came from his presidential salary, but were political donations dating back many years.[/quote] Some local friends have pointed out how much money Shih Ming-teh raised virtually overnight in his bid to oust Chen. Don’t underestimate the scale of political donations - especially when corporations, groups, etc are involved.

[quote=“Vorkosigan”]Until a few years ago, politicians could accept unlimited donations, and only had to report what they spent, and could keep whatever was left over. Hence Chen having millions was not only legal but not particularly noteworthy. Millions are normal in Taiwan politics, where irrigation board chief or ag coop elections used to be more expensive than US Senate elections. Remember that in the 1990s Chu An-hsiung bought the Kaohsiung City Council for US$10 million just to be speaker, meaning that he expected to recoup much more than that in bribes and payoffs and kickbacks. [/quote] In fact, just today a colleague mentioned that there are elections in Hsinchu County this weekend and everyone in his family had received NT$3,000 from a candidate. It is only a low level local magistrate position (li zhang) over a small area of maybe 500 households. And the offical salary for that position is only modest - maybe about NT$50,000/month. There are obviously opportunties and benefits that would go along with the position. And the value of those goes up exponentially the higher the office.

According to these two reports, his sentence was reduced to 20 years:

AFP: [quote]In a surprise decision, Taiwan’s high court Friday cut ex-president Chen Shui-bian’s life sentence for corruption to 20 years in jail, but the former leader said he would appeal.

The court, which also reduced former first lady Wu Shu-chen’s life term to 20 years imprisonment, said it had reached the decision after concluding that Chen had embezzled less money than previously assumed.[/quote]
google.com/hostednews/afp/ar … JHaiT0FkWw

Bloomberg: [quote]Taiwan’s former President Chen Shui- bian, whose pro-independence stance riled China and roiled domestic politics, won a reduction in his life sentence for graft to 20 years in an appeal hearing in Taipei High Court.[/quote]
businessweek.com/news/2010-0 … ate3-.html

That means with a total of 7 years or less of jail time they will be out. How many years has he been in jail now? That time will count.