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SIP controls fund transfer: Chen's son
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Apr 10, 2010, Page 3
Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), said last
night that he and his family have done everything they could to have NT$700
million (US$21 million) from his family’s Swiss bank accounts transferred to
Taiwan, and it was up to the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) to decide when
the transfer would take place.
“[After negotiations], the Swiss [prosecutors] would de-freeze the funds [in
Swiss] bank accounts, so that we can wire the money back to Taiwan, if the owner
of the accounts voluntarily agrees to do so,” Chen Chih-chung told a news
conference. “We signed all the necessary papers by March 25, and the SIP is
handing the papers to the Swiss judiciary through channels of mutual judicial
assistance — this is to say that my family and I have done everything, and how
fast the rest of the process can be completed is in the hands of the
judiciary,” he said.
Chen Chih-chung added that he had heard from Swiss banks a couple of days ago
that Swiss prosecutors had already agreed to transfer the funds.
He also voiced his discontent over the connection Teng Chen-chiu (鄧振球), the
presiding judge in the case, made between the transfer of the money and his
father’s release on bail. Teng said on Friday last week that the Chen family
would have to remit the money to a designated account if the former president
were to have any chance of being released on bail at his next detention review
on April 23.
“The release of my father on bail is about protection of human rights, and we
agreed to wire the money back to Taiwan because we respect the court — these are
two separate issues and should not be in a cause-and-effect relationship,” he
said.
He said if his father were released, “running away is not an option for him,
because it would be a dishonor for him.”
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