Yeh, who was indicted last week for withholding important information concerning possible crimes, made the public acknowledgement at a news conference yesterday.

He stressed that during a regular monthly meeting with Chen, he personally handed Chen the information from global anti-money laundering association Egmont Group regarding bank accounts owned by Chen's family members on the Cayman Island in the Caribbean.

Yeh's revelation during an ongoing investigation into possible money-laundering by the former first family would explain why a search of Yeh's home on Aug. 21 yielded only a photocopy of that information, with the original copy unaccounted for.

Yeh said Egmont forwarded the information to the MJIB on Jan. 29, two months before the March 22 presidential election.

Yeh said he decided to submit the information to Chen because he was concerned about the political impact the information would have on the election, in which Frank Hsieh from Chen's Democratic Progressive Party was engaged in an uphill battle against the opposition Kuomintang's candidate Ma Ying-jeou, who later won.

"As the nation's president at that time, he must have his own way and process of using his money," Yeh said.

Yeh said he believed that Chen, who was still the national leader at that time, knew better than him how to handle this sensitive issue after learning that a foreign financial intelligence unit had taken note of transfers of his private funds.

After receiving the information, Chen told Yeh, "I'll deal with the matter," Yeh quoted Chen as saying.

Chen, who stepped down on May 20 after two four-year terms, invited Yeh, who already retired from the Investigation Bureau on July 16, for a meeting on Aug. 14, which was later postponed to the next day, Yeh said.

On Aug. 14, Chen told the nation that his wife had deposited his unused election campaign funds in overseas bank counts.

'Missing'

During that meeting, Yeh said, he had asked about the whereabouts of the original copies of the information, and was told by Chen that "they were missing."

However, Yeh denied that he might have broken the law by forewarning Chen of an investigation into his alleged "money-laundering" in a tipoff.

He argued that what he passed on to Chen was "intelligence" rather than "evidence of crime."

"I am just doing what a chief of the Investigation Bureau is supposed to do by passing intelligence to head of the state." Yeh said.

Yeh became involved in the case after Chen held a televised press conference on Aug. 14 to apologize to the nation for "having done something forbidden by the law," while admitting his wife Wu Shu-chen had wired his personal funds, which he claimed was left over from his four election campaigns, to overseas bank accounts.

Prosecutors in charge of the case found that the IB had long possessed information about the ex-first family's possible money-laundering operations.

However, the relevant documents went missing after being presented to Yeh by IB staff.

Prosecutors found only a copy of related documents during a search of his residence. Yeh refused to reveal where the original copies were until yesterday.

Yeh decided to tell the truth -- that he had handed the original documents to Chen after being contacted by Hsu Lu, a once popular Peking opera diva and wife of the late Shen Ji-yueh, a highly respected former chief of the IB.

He also made another apology for bringing disgrace to all staff of the bureau.

Chen's office issued a statement after Yeh held the press conference yeterday.

'Not standard channel'

In an attempt to absolve himself in the scandal, Chen said that he did not withhold any information because the documents given by Yeh "were not submitted via the standard channel."

But Chen, a lawyer by training, did not say where the original documents are now.

Chen's statement was released as he held a surprise meeting with Chiou I-jen, a former vice premier and secretary general of the National Security Council. Chiou is presently under probe for the disappearance of NT$1 billion in public funds in an allegedly bungled plan to seek diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea.

Chen also denied all the alegations that his family have engaged in corruption or money-laundering activity.

Chen, his wife and several close aides were indicted in a separate case on charges of corruption and forgery, after they were found to have used invoices or receipts from other people to claim NT$14.8 million from a special "state affairs fund" that can only be used by the president for public purposes.

The case was stalled after former first lady Wu Shu-chen failed to appear at the Taipei District Court 16 times since 2007, on grounds of frail health condition.

In the latest development, the court had sent Wu the 17th notice for her to appear at the court on Sept. 19.