Taiwan's Chen and wife in corruption probe
Taiwan prosecutors have questioned the island's president and first lady in a corruption investigation and warned them that they could end up facing document fraud and corruption charges.
The probe raises the stakes in a non-stop sit-in that begins tomorrow, during which hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese are expected to sit in front of the presidential palace to put pressure on Chen Shui-bian to step down.
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The investigation focuses on whether funds from a presidential office discretionary budget were embezzled. The budget scandal is only the latest in a series of alleged corruption cases, but it is the first to directly implicate the president.
Chang Wen-cheng, secretary-general of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors Office, said an examination of papers from the presidential office showed money had been disbursed against receipts that were not for goods or services for the office but provided by third parties.
The presidential office confirmed that Mr Chen was questioned on the matter last month. It claimed the receipts had been used to keep the use of certain funds secret because they "had to do with foreign affairs and some very sensitive issues, so . . . could not be made public".
It quoted the president as saying that he personally had not pocketed a cent.
Mr Chang said: "We told [Mr Chen and his wife] that they are very likely to face document forgery or corruption charges in the future."
Mr Chen's critics said the prosecution's move added momentum to their case.
Shih Ming-teh, a former democracy fighter and former chairman of Mr Chen's Democratic Progressive party, plans to lead the sit-in. Mr Shih, who has become a fierce critic of the DPP government, has so far failed to get large numbers of people from within Mr Chen's camp behind him, although the president has lost the support of many DPP followers.
Observers do not expect the protest to succeed in toppling Mr Chen. However, if he was named a suspect in a fraud and corruption case, this could change.
Mr Shih, who spent 25 years in jail as a dissident under the former Kuo-mintang authoritarian reg-ime, described the planned protest as a "people power" movement and said he would not leave until Mr Chen was unseated.
陈水扁夫妇涉嫌腐败受到检调人员询问
台湾检调部门在一项腐败案调查中，对台湾总统陈水扁及其夫人进行了询问，并警告称，他们可能面临伪造文书罪、贪渎罪等指控。
此次调查将提高自明日开始的不间断静坐活动的份量，预计届时会有成千上万的台湾民众在总统府前静坐，向陈水扁施加压力，迫使其下台。
调查的核心内容是，由总统府支配的“国务机要费”是否被挪用。这起经费丑闻只是一系列涉嫌腐败案件中的最近一起，但它是直接牵涉到陈水扁本人的首例案件。
台湾高检署书记官长张文政表示，对总统府文件的调查表明，资金用途与收据不符，收据并非总统府用于购买商品或服务，而是由第三方提供的。
总统府证实，陈水扁上月因此事受到询问。总统府称，使用这些收据是为了对某些资金的用途保密，因为它们“涉及到外交事务和一些非常敏感的问题，因此……无法公开”。
总统府援引陈水扁的话表示，他个人没有拿一分钱。
张文政表示：“我们告诉（陈水扁和他夫人），他们未来很可能面临伪造文书罪、贪渎罪等指控。”
批评陈水扁的人士称，检调部门的行动为他们助了势。
陈水扁所在的民进党前任主席施明德计划领导此次静坐，他曾是一位民主人士，现已成为猛烈抨击民进党政府的人。尽管陈水扁已丧失了许多民进党追随者的支持，但迄今为止，施明德还未能从陈水扁阵营中争取到大量的支持者。
