Wu — a defendant in an ongoing money laundering probe that has seen her husband, former President Chen Shui-bian detained — made the claims while being questioned by prosecutors at her home, the lawyer, Lee Sheng-hsiung, said.

According to the lawyer, Wu said the friend, Tsai Ming-che, had offered to help raise campaign funds for former President Chen Shui-bian without being asked to do so.

Neither Wu nor Chen was aware of how he was raising the money, but now Tsai is blaming everything on the former first lady.

In one of the cases, Tsai told Su he had raised NT$90 million from Kuo Chuan-ching, president of the Rich Group, who is suspected to bribing former Interior Minister Yu Cheng-hsien in exchange for a contract to build Taipei’s Nankang Exhibition Hall.

But as the sum was raised after the 2004 presidential election was already over, Wu said he had Tsai transfer the money to the family’s overseas accounts.

Wu said she had only met Kuo once in a fundraising dinner, during which the businessman pledged support for Chen, who was then seeking reelection to the presidency.

She said she was surprised to learn from prosecutor’s revelations that actually Tsai received NT$100 million from Kuo, and pocketed NT$10 million.

In another case, she claimed that she was told that a certain person donated NT$400 million for Chen’s campaign, but they actually received only half of that sum.

“If it’s true that Tsai Ming-che took (bribe) money from other people, I would kill him,” Wu was cited by her lawyer as saying.

She stressed that she was only aware of the overseas accounts belonging to her son, daughter-in-law, and brother, and she claimed that she knew nothing about any other bank accounts.

She also denied that she interfered with the bidding process for the Nankang Exhibition Hall project.

She said the money was remitted overseas so that Chen could use in public affairs after retiring from the presidential office.

Prosecutors conducted the interrogation at the former first lady’s home because of the wheelchair-bound Wu’s poor health.

Lee said Wu, who faints often, was accompanied by a doctor and a nurse while being questioned by prosecutors.

At the start of the interrogation, Lee said, Wu was reluctant to answer questions, to show support of her husband, who has been staging a hunger strike in prison in protest of what he claims to be politically motivated charges against him.

Prosecutors questioned her son Chen Chih-chung and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching Friday, during which the couple signed papers authorizing prosecutors to look into their overseas accounts.

Swiss authorities have frozen US$21 million in their bank accounts in the country.

President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday urged his predecessor Chen Shui-bian and another local government chief, both charged with corruption, to stop their hunger strikes in jail.

“We hope they can resume eating, so that on the one hand they can take care of their own bodies, and on the other hand can have the strength to face future challenges,” said Ma during a radio interview.

Ma said prison officials have handled similar situations in the past, and they have standard procedures to deal with hunger strikes.

The former president and Chiayi County Magistrate Chen Ming-wen, both currently detained in separate cases, have been staging hunger strikes to protest what they claim to be political persecution against them.

Yunlin County Magistrate Su Chi-fen, indicted for corruption in yet another case, has just resumed eating after a 10-day hunger strike that ended late Friday night when she was released from jail.

The investigations targeting the three opposition leaders and the subsequent detentions have sparked protests from the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party and their supporters who claim the corruption charges are politically motivated.

A prison official said yesterday ex-President Chen, who has been fasting since he was locked up Wednesday, said he has shown signs of nausea and acid reflux.

Li Ta-chu, deputy warden of the Taipei Penitentiary where Chen has been detained, said the ex-president’s blood pressure blood sugar levels ramin normal.

Chen’s conditions are being monitored closely, and doctors will evaluate whether nutrition injections will be needed, Li said.

Chiayi Magistrate Chen was entering the fifth day of his hunger strike yesterday, with prison officials saying his health remained normal.

Liao Wen-chen, an official with the Chiayi Penitentiary, said Chen still looked good. But doctors has been checking his blood sugar levels three times a day, Liao said.

If he continues his strike, the prison may have to give him nutrition injections, the official added.

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen faulted prosecutors for dragging their feet in their investigation in the Chiayi chief’s case during the 18 days since taking him into custody.

She said prosecutors have never questioned Chen again during the period, leaving him in custody in total neglect of his human rights.

Tsai and a few DPP legislators met Chen’s supporters who continued their daily nine-to-five demonstration outside the Chiayi jail to protest the detention.

They have vowed to continue their actions until the magistrate is released.

In Yunlin, Magistrate Su’s conditions was improving after a night’s rest at the hospital where she received treatments and ate some porridge, her first taste of food following 250 hours of huger striking.

She had been taken to the hospital after the court released her from custody around Friday midnight.

Her sister said the magistrate had a brief discussion with her aides on county affairs in the morning while still in hospital.

According to the law, prosecutors, with court permission, could detain suspects for up to four months without bring formal charges.

It is common for prosecutors to deny detained suspects any visitors except their lawyers so as to prevent them from orchestrating testimonies with accomplices.

Ex-President Chen is under investigation for embezzlement, bribe-taking, money laundering and illegally removing classified documents from the Presidential Office.

In his case, several other people, including his aides, have also been detained incommunicado.

Prosecutors yesterday also went to his residence in Taipei to interrogate his wheelchair-bound wife, Wu Shu-chen, another major suspect in the probe.

Magistrate Su has been formally indicted for allegedly taking a total of NT$21 million in bribes in two separate cases involving the granting of a permit to a landfill operator and the expansion of the Yunlin branch of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.

Prosecutors have recommended a prison term of 15 years for her.

Magistrate Chen is suspected of leaking confidential information to help a businessman win a government project worth more than NT$650 million.

But former DPP Chairman Shih Ming-teh has remarked that former President Chen’s hunger strike would not turn him into a political prisoner.

Shih in 2006 launched a massive campaign trying to oust Chen from office after prosecutors started a corruption probe targeting the Chen family.