TAIPEI - FORMER Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian's family members were questioned on Thursday in connection with an on-going money laundering scandal, court officials said.

Chen's son, daughter and daughter-in-law were summoned by the Taipei district court as witnesses in a case against the island's former intelligence chief for his alleged role in the scandal.

Television footage showed them entering the courthouse on Thursday morning without making any comment to waiting reporters.

Yeh Sheng-mao, who was director of Taiwan's Bureau of Investigation for six years while Chen was in office, has been detained since last month on charges of leaking national secrets to Chen.

Yeh was accused of covering up for Chen and warning the former president that an international organisation was investigating his family for suspected money laundering.

If convicted, Yeh faces at least five years in jail.

Chen, his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and brother-in-law have all been named as defendants in the money laundering case.

Taiwanese prosecutors say US$21 million (S$31 million) were sent to Swiss bank accounts belonging to Chen's daughter-in-law in 2007. The funds have since been frozen.

Chen has admitted that his wife wired US$20 million abroad from past campaign funds but said she did so without his knowledge. He denies laundering money.

Chen, who left office in May after eight years, is already being investigated for allegedly embezzling 14.8 million Taiwan dollars in special expenses while he was president. His wife is on trial in the same case.

The embattled ex-leader has branded the legal moves against him 'political persecution' by the pro Beijing Kuomintang government. -- AFP