Chen’s son brings fruit to prison

Chen Chih-chung brought his father tangerines, bananas and others, but prison official returned the bananas, which they said would get rotten too easily.

The senior Chen has been denied any visitors, and only his family members are allowed send him food or other daily necessities.

The son, who is also a suspect in a series of corruption and money laundering cases implicating almost the ex-president’s entire family, declined to comment on news that prosecutors were at the time questioning his father in prison.

The son has been the only one in the family to have showed up at Taipei Penitentiary to deliver anything to the ex-president.

The ex-leader’s attorney Cheng Wen-lung later declined to disclose details of the prosecutors’ questioning of Chen.

But he cited Chen as saying likening the nature of his case to the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident, a milestone in Taiwan’s history of democratic movement.

Chen was in a team of lawyers defending opposition leaders accused of sedition for promoting democracy.

Chen said at the time the opposition leaders were all condemned by the nation as violent perpetrators, and were subsequently jailed. But now they have all been exonerated, he was cited as saying.

During the four-hour questioning, Chen reiterated his innocence, saying he had never taken bribes or laundered money, according to the Central News Agency.

He was relieved to hear that one of his top aides, Ma Yung-cheng, had already been released on bail Tuesday, the CNA said.

But learning that former Vice Premier Chiou I-jen remained in custody, Chen told prosecutors that Chiou was not the kind of person who would take bribes or swindle money, the CNA added.

It is the second time that prosecutors have questioned Chen in jail, the CNA noted.

The CNA quoted sources wit the prosecution that many witnesses from the business circle had already divulged their monetary transactions with the Chen family.

But Chen told prosecutors that all the money transactions with these businesspeople were donations for his election campaigns.

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