Chen Shui-bian corruption charges

Chen Shui-bian, former President of the Taiwan, stepped down on May 20, 2008, the same day that Ma Ying-jeou took office as the new President of the Republic of China. About an hour after he left the Presidential Office Building, as a former President of the Republic of China and no longer enjoying presidential immunity, he was arrested and restricted from leaving the nation by Taiwanese prosecutors due to allegations of corruption and abuse of authority. Chen was accused of fraud in a case involving the handling of a special presidential fund used to pursue Taiwan's foreign diplomacy. However, the Special Investigation Division dropped money-laundering charges because of a lack of evidence.

President Ma Ying-jeou moved to declassify documents that would aid in the investigation of the former president's use of special expenses. President Ma was then sued by Chen's lawyers on August 6, 2008, who called Ma's declassification of case-aiding documents "politically motivated." The documents which were sought were classified earlier by Chen. The documents are mostly receipts and records of use of special expenses.

On August 14, 2008, shortly after a press conference held by rival party Kuomintang (KMT) legislators announcing the existence of a request for money laundering investigation assistance letter from the Swiss government, the former president called an evening press conference and admitted that his past election campaigns had misstated election finance expenses, and had leftover monies in campaign coffers forwarded to overseas accounts. Chen stated during the conference, "My conscience has told me that I cannot continue to lie to myself or to others, so I will choose to be bluntly honest: I have, in the past, committed deeds that are against the rule of law, and I am willing, for all campaign finance dishonesty from my four elections for mayor and for president, to apologize to the people".

Chen claims that the money was wired overseas by his wife and without his knowing. There is also an investigation launched by Swiss authorities over a Swiss bank account bearing Chen's daughter-in-law's name: roughly US$31 million were wired to the account from Taiwan and was then forwarded again to an account in the Cayman Islands. Swiss and Taiwan authorities are cooperating in investigating whether or not there are instances of money laundering committed by members of the former first family. It is unknown whether or not the wiring of the Swiss accounts and the wiring of campaign money overseas by Mrs. Chen are related. Chen and his wife are currently restricted from leaving Taiwan.

...
Wikipedia