The Next, an affiliate of the Chinese-language Apple Daily, reported in its latest issue that Chen used the “Air Force One” jet to carry the money which eventually ended up in the U.S.
The sum was an additional batch of money diverted abroad by Chen, who was alleged earlier to have shipped US$5 million (NT$170 million) in cash to Palau.Quoting anonymous sources, the Next magazine said the information was revealed by U.S. government officials who alerted the Palauan government on the money flow and suspected that it could be related to operations of international terrorist organizations.The sources said the US$40 million in cash was first deposited into the National Development Bank of Palau. But the money was later remitted in several batches to financial institutions in the U.S.Former President Chen, who is still awaiting a court verdict for his alleged involvement in embezzling public funds and international money laundering operations, made his second state visit to Palau in September 2006.When asked to make comments on the report in the Next magazine, Legislator Chiu Yi of the ruling Kuomintang said yesterday that he already raised the questions on Chen’s possible diversion of funds to Palau three years ago.It turned out that the bank accounts of Chen’s son and daughter in the U.S. saw the increase in deposits of more than NT$1 billion in October 2006, he said.Chiu said Chen’s son Chen Chih-chung and daughter Chen Shin-yu had filed a lawsuit against him for his disclosure of the money deposited in their American bank accounts.After the request from the Taipei District Court for legal assistance from the U.S. judicial authorities, it was confirmed that there were indeed huge deposits in both siblings’ bank accounts in the U.S., Chiu added.Meanwhile, the Next also reported that prosecutors have recently made a request for legal assistance from the Singaporean government for the financial transactions of Cheng Shen-chih, former chairman of Mega Financial Holding.Cheng was one of several former senior financiers who allegedly helped with the money laundering operations undertaken by the former first family.
