Appearing in court together with his father Chao Yu-chu, President Chen Shui-bian’s son-in-law claimed innocence, though he was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison by the Taipei district court on December 26.

Chao Yu-chu, also convicted of insider trading in buying and selling shares of the Taiwan Development Corporation in 2005, insisted that he was innocent. The district court gave him a sentence of eight years and four months.

“I had nothing to do with the deal my father made,” said Chao Chien-ming, a former osteopathic surgeon at Taiwan University Hospital.

It was his father who did the buying and the selling, the son insisted. “But I was convicted as a co-defendant, because prosecutors considered me a dignitary with a family relationship with the president,” he said.

“If I had been truly a dignitary as I was so described,” Chao Chien-ming complained, “I would have been a chief executive officer of a large company rather than an ordinary doctor.”

After he had been convicted, Chao Chien-ming was fired by Taiwan University Hospital. He is currently serving as a chief resident at a Tainan hospital.

Three other defendants were in court for the second trial. They were Su Teh-chien, former Taiwan Development board chairman; Tsai Ching-wen, former board chairman of the Waterland Financial Holding Corporation; and Yu Shih-yi, general manager of the Broad Band Real Estate Information.

All three denied their involvement in the insider trading, which let the two Chaos net at least NT$4.27 million in the deal arranged by the father, who is a retired elementary school principal.

The high court is expected to hold four more trial hearings before handing down its verdict. A debate will take place at the last hearing, scheduled for mid-June.

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