Ex-Chinese official on trial: Lawyers argue over statements to police

Defence suggests Li Huabo was induced to give statements as his money was frozen

For three hours on Thursday, lawyers at the trial of a former Chinese government official being prosecuted here for receiving stolen funds argued about the admissibility of statements he had given to the police.

This trial-within-a-trial involved 18 statements that were recorded when Li Huabo, 50, was being investigated for receiving stolen funds amounting to $182,723 in his United Overseas Bank account.

The statements were recorded by officers of the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) between March last year and January this year.

At yesterday's hearing, the prosecution sought to show the statements had been given by Li voluntarily, while the defence suggested that he could have been induced into giving them because the bulk of his money and assets in Singapore had been frozen. The CAD had seized $5 million in cash and assets from Li and his wife, Madam Xu Aihong, during investigations.