Taiwan officials are seeking Switzerland's consent to return $21 million frozen in two bank accounts that a court said the island's ex-president illegally obtained and laundered, a news report said Sunday. The Taipei District Court sentenced former President Chen Shui-bian to life in prison Friday for corruption, finding him guilty of embezzling $3.15 million during his 2000-2008 presidency and receiving bribes worth at least $9 million, as well as money laundering and document forgery. Chen rode to power in 2000 on a promise to clean up decades of corruption. The China Times quoted unidentified government prosecutors as saying they will send Friday's verdict to Swiss judicial authorities seeking the return of the money to the Taiwanese government. Folco Galli, spokesman for the Swiss Justice Ministry told the AP that so far the Swiss government has not received an official request for returning the funds. In 2008, Swiss authorities ordered the bank accounts of Chen's son and daughter-in-law, Chen Chih-chung and Huang Zui-jing, frozen on suspicion of money laundering. Friday's verdict said the $21 million laundered abroad included money Chen and his wife had embezzled from a special presidential fund and bribes a Taiwanese businessman paid them in connection with a government land deal. The verdict said the couple instructed their son and daughter-in-law to deposit the money in accounts in Zurich-based RBS Coutts Bank AG and Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) S.A. Prosecutors were unavailable to comment on the news report Sunday. Chen and his wife have denied the charges, saying the money was left over from political donations. On Sunday, dozens of Chen supporters protested outside the residence of Tsai Shou-hsiun, the presiding judge of his graft case, saying the verdict was politically motivated. The protesters also said Chen was unfairly confined to jail during his trial.
