Taiwan's former President held over graft probe

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan’s former president Chen Shui-bian was arrested on Tuesday as prosecutors sought to detain him in connection with a long-running corruption probe, officials said.
Chen is accused of money laundering, embezzling government funds, taking bribes and forging documents, a spokesman for the investigation said.
A defiant Chen put his handcuffed hands in the air as he stepped out of the prosecutor’s office and shouted “political persecution” before getting into a waiting car. He was due to appear in court at 1200 GMT.
If the prosecutors’ demand is met, Chen would become the first former Taiwanese president to be formally detained, following a graft scandal that has gripped the island for months.
Meanwhile, a court hearing to decide if Taiwan’s former president Chen Shui-bian should be formally detained was suspended Tuesday after he demanded to be taken to hospital, a legislator said.
“The former president told the judges that he was pushed from behind while being escorted out of the prosecutors’ office, and demanded that he be sent to the National Taiwan University Hospital to examine his injuries,” opposition lawmaker Lai Ching-teh told reporters.
“The judges have taken seriously the former president’s complaints and decided to suspend the hearing,” Lai said.
The former president, who retired in May after eight years in power, is under investigation for allegedly embezzling 14.8 million Taiwan dollars (480,500 US) from the government.
Chen was earlier Tuesday questioned by prosecutors investigating a money-laundering scandal involving both him and his wife.
Under interrogation Tuesday, Chen chose not to answer some questions, while dozens of supporters protested outside the investigators’ office.
He earlier accused the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) government of persecuting him under pressure from Beijing, which considers Taiwan a renegade province to be reunified with China, by force if necessary.
“The KMT and the Chinese Communist Party see me as their number one prisoner as I am the biggest stone blocking their way to reunification,” pro-independence Chen told reporters.