TAIPEI - FORMER Taiwan president Chen Shu-bian's brother-in-law was led away in handcuffs on Tuesday for further questioning over a money laundering scandal that has implicated the ex-leader and his family.
Television images showed Wu Ching-mao, elder brother of Chen's wife Wu Shu-chen, being led off after being grilled by a panel of prosecutors looking into the high-profile case.
Prosecutor Chen Yun-nan said the prosecutors had feared that 'Wu Ching-mao could collude with the other suspects' and sought his detention, which was later approved by a Taipei court.
Wu Ching-mao, who reportedly offered dummy accounts for the money laundering, according to local media, is the fifth person to be held in connection with the scandal.
The others detained include a former intelligence chief, one of Chen's former aides, a former cashier from the presidential office and a businessman.
Chen told his supporters in a rally last week that he was innocent of the charges and that the legal moves were part of a 'political persecution' orchestrated against him by the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) government.
Chen, his wife, son, daughter-in-law, Wu Ching-mao and four others have all been named as defendants in the money laundering case.
According to Taiwanese prosecutors, 21 million US dollars (S$30.59 million) were sent to Swiss bank accounts belonging to Chen's daughter-in-law in 2007 and used to set up a business registered in the Cayman Islands for suspected money laundering.
Chen has admitted his wife wired 20 million US dollars abroad from his past campaign funds but said she did so without his knowledge.
Chen is already being investigated for allegedly embezzling 14.8 million Taiwan dollars in special expenses while president.
