Chen urged to 'show guts' to get over his legal mess

In an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Wealth biweekly, Ma said that, in retrospect, Chen had failed to prevent in advance the money dealings handled by his wife and the outward remission of huge funds abroad by his family.

Even after he learned of the questionable financial deals afterward, Chen was unable to persuade his wife to send the money back to Taiwan.

The former close aide and long-time confidant of the former national leader acknowledged that he had personally helped handled some election campaign funds for Chen.

But he was never aware of the staggering funds between the former first lady received from business executives or the circuitous fund flow into bank accounts overseas, Ma said.

Instead of continuing to blame the ruling Kuomintang or what he felt as the unfair treatment under the current judicial system, the former president should admit the wrongdoings of his family and squarely face the justice, Ma suggested.

Ma, who once wielded amazing power and influence, acknowledged the disastrous performance of the former administration, which was plagued by strings of scams, although Chen successfully led his party to replace the KMT as the ruling party in Taiwan.

Ma still expressed his appreciation for Chen's taking him as a close aide over the years.

But what left now between the two is the simple emotional connections between two persons, Ma said, showing his bidding farewell to the once close relationship.

For himself, Ma said he decided to start a new page in his career by looking for his second job in life.

Leading a reclusive lifestyle now, Ma explained that he was fed up with the seemingly endless legal entanglement in recent years.

Ma was already sentenced by a district court for 33 years in prison for his alleged role in the embezzlement of public funds under the name of President Chen during his years serving as a close aide to the former president.

President Chen himself is still under detention for various scams caused by his family and several former aides during his eight-year administration.

All his family members, including wife, son, daughter, daughter-in-law, and son-in-law, have been implicated and convicted for various lawbreaking activities.

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