Fan Kuang-chuan, secretary general of the Judicial Yuan, said the probe is necessary to mete out penalties on Wu if he is found guilty as reported or clear his name if he is innocent.

He said the probe will focus on whether Wu had accepted a bribe of NT$10 million from Hu after the Taipei District Court received a report from a whistle-blower.

Fan also confirmed that Wu already tendered his resignation on March 2 that was approved by Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng on March 20.

Wu denied that he has accepted any money or persuasion from Hu or his fiancee Ting Jou-an.

He stressed that he was framed by a classmate surnamed Liang in senior high school.

Wu explained that he got a call from Liang in November last year for a get-together of several alumni. He went along with a colleague, a judge surnamed Hsiung from the Taipei District Court.

Liang brought up Hu's case but Wu said he declined to make comments on it.

Wu said Liang called him for another meeting in December but he declined the invitation.

He soon received a text message from Liang on his mobile phone saying that the persons who filed charges against Hu were "bad" persons in late December.

Wu said prosecutors had asked for a three-year prison sentence for the entertainer for cheating other entertainers at the gambling table with the help of hidden cameras.

Prosecutors said Hu was involved in a scheme where two accomplices watched cameras in an adjacent room and told Hu's elder brother through wireless radio about his competitors' mahjong game positions to help him win.

But Wu handed down a verdict in mid-January that Hu was not personally involved in the case based on evidence presented in court.

Although Wu exonerated Hu, he ruled that Hu's brother and two friends were guilty of fraud in the scandal.

Hu's elder brother, Hu Chi-hsuan, received a prison term of two years and four months after he admitted that he installed the hidden camera with the help of two of his friends, Tien Shu-ling and Hsu Chih-huang.

Tien and Hsu were sentenced to 22 months and 18 months, respectively, in the scheme.

Prosecutors appealed the case with the Taiwan High Court, thinking Hu's elder brother only voluntarily played the fall guy to assume the responsibility for the entertainer, who still hosts several popular variety TV shows.

Many entertainers who had played mahjong games and lost money at Hu's home expressed surprise when he was acquitted.

There were media reports that Hu's fiancee Ting Jou-an attended the lunch with Judge Wu in November and Ting also paid Wu NT$10 million.

Both Wu and Hu denied the allegations.

Wu said he was set up by his former classmate and Ting neither attended the lunch meeting nor paid him any money.

When asked whey he decided to resign at such a sensitive time, Wu said he had contemplated a change in his career plan for more than one year.

Hu also said that Ting did not pay any money to anyone for the attempt of swaying the court ruling because she was simply incapable of doing such a thing.