Taipei district court judge Lee Ying-hao ordered the arrest of Yeh Sheng-mao, a Taiwanese J. Edgar Hoover, of FBI fame, at the end of the first trial hearing of the retired MJIB chief indicted for "dereliction of duty."

Yeh, Taiwan's first top spy-cum-anti-corruption fighter under arrest, was handcuffed and taken to the detention house at Tucheng, where Chen Shui-bian's son-in-law Chao Chien-ming was kept behind bars for months prior to his indictment for insider trading.

Two MJIB investigators were subpoenaed as witnesses against their former boss, charged with privately passing the top secret papers on money laundering to Chen, in which the ex-president was implicated. Security compromise was another count.

They testified Yeh ordered them at the end of 2006 to classify the reports on the unusual remittances of millions of dollars to a Jersey Island bank by the former first lady's relatives.

Tsou Chiu-chiang told the judge Yeh insisted on the highest classification of top secret and cautioned him not to tell anybody of the reports he had written.

These reports were handed over to the president at his official residence by Yeh in person. Yeh also told Tsou and his supervisor Chow Yu-yi copies of the reports were submitted to the procurator-general.

Chen Tsung-ming, the nation's highest prosecutor, wasn't asked to testify.

Chow, head of the MJIB anti-corruption center, said the amount involved in the alleged money laundering as was reported by Jersey Island bank totaled US$16 million.

Indicting Yeh summarily for "profiting others," Judge Lee said the ex-MJIB head should have tried to "refrain from giving the top secret information" to the former president, who was implicated in the crime.

"The principle of refrainment should have been followed," Lee said at the hearing before ordering Yeh to be taken under custody in court.

If convicted, Yeh shall be sentenced to no less than five years in prison. Yeh was taken under custody for further questioning, because the conviction entails a long jail term.

Chen Shui-bian admitted part of the government contribution to his presidential campaigns was remitted abroad after Credit Suisse brought his alleged money laundering to light.

During the hearing, Yeh denied charges of dereliction of duty. "I did what I was expected to do as my duty," he insisted.

He claimed innocence because he was duty-bound to report all important investigations to the head of state. Chen Shui-bian was head of state, but not head of government according to the Constitution.

Constitutionally, however, the president of the republic directs the conduct of "affairs of national security." The court of law does not regard the reports on money laundering as an affair of national security, which should be classified top secret.

The government made a cash donation to presidential candidates, NT$30 per vote they collected in elections.

Wu Shu-chen, the former first lady, is standing trial for corruption, charged with borrowing receipts and invoices from friends and relatives, including members of the first family, to claim a NT$14.8 million reimbursement from her husband's "state affairs" fund.

Her husband was not indicted, because he was immune to prosecution then, but was regarded as an unindicted co-defendant who would be formally charged on leaving office.

Special Counsel prosecutors are winding up their investigation of the state affairs fund scandal and the money laundering.

Yeh was the fourth domino to fall in the legal war of anti-corruption against the former first couple.

The other three dominoes were Chen Cheng-hui, the first family's accountant-cashier; Tsai Ming-cheh, the ex-first lady's "special assistant;" and Lin Teh-hsun, former director of the secretariat of the Office of the President.

Toward the end of last month, prosecutors vowed to wind up their investigation to the satisfaction of the public. If not, they promised, they would resign en masse, though they did not say Chen Shui-bian would be indicted and tried.