No evidence connecting ex-president to Palau fund: prosecutors

Speculations of Chen's involvement in the fund fanned by Taiwan's media after Palau's President Johnson Toribiong said in an interview with local television channel, TVBS, on Monday that a fund of US$41 million had been remitted from his country's Pacific Saving Bank, which has gone bankrupt, to an unspecified overseas bank in 2005.

Toribiong said the fund was deposited in that bank one year before Chen's visit to Palau. Although Toribiong said he was not sure whether the fund has anything to do with Chen, Taiwanese media have suggested that there might be a connection.

But the SID said in a statement Wednesday that even if there was such a transaction, it is hard to identify the relation between the transaction and the money laundering case of the former first family.

Since the SID launched large-scale investigations and requested reciprocal judicial assistance from foreign countries to trace money transactions of the former first family last year, no record of money wired to or from Palau has been found, the SID statement said.

Ex-president Chen, who is in jail pending the appeal of his conviction on embezzlement and money laundering charges, on Tuesday denied any involvement in the fund.

He told visitors Wednesday that it would not be fair to put the blame on him. He also called on the SID to conduct a thorough investigation on the case so as to clear him from suspicion.

The SID on Wednesday did not point the finger at Chen, but said if necessary, prosecutors will request information from Palau through reciprocal judicial assistance.

Referring to local reports that the Palau government has requested reciprocal judicial assistance from the Taiwanese government to investigate the money transaction, the SID clarified in its press release that it has not received any such request from Palau.

The SID suggested that the Palau government conduct an investigation into the fund itself since the transaction took place in Palau.

Chen and his wife Wu Shu-jen were each given a life sentence on Sept. 7 for the corruption and money laundering charges by a court in Taipei. They are both appealing the convictions.

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