Former Taiwan Prez faces life imprisonment

Taiwan, Sep 11: Former Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian accused of corruption was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday, Sep 11, said the officials at Taipei City Court.

Prosecutors said Chen embezzled 600 million New Taiwan dollars (U S $177 million), took bribes, laundered money and illegally removed classified documents from the president's office.

Chen had to pay a fine of 200 million New Taiwan dollars (U S $61 million).

Last week, Wu Shu-chen, the president's wife was sentenced to a year in prison for lying to prosecutors in her husband's corruption case.

It was also alleged that she helped her son, daughter and son-in-law provide false testimony.

The others were each sentenced to six months in prison.

However, Chen denied the charges and said they were politically motivated by his successor, Ma Ying-jeou.

Chen's corruption trial, the first for a former head of state began in March 2009.

However, Chen maintained that the money was political donations.

OneIndia News