Former First Son Chen Chih-chung Convicted of Money Laundering; Sentenced to 1 Year in Prison by Supreme Court

On April 26, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Republic of China delivered a partial final judgment on the long-running corruption and money laundering case involving the family of former President Chen Shui-bian. The court rejected the appeals, finalizing a sentence of one year in prison and a fine of NT$1.5 million for Chen Chih-chung, the son of Chen Shui-bian and a former Kaohsiung City Councilor representing the Democratic Progressive Party, under the Money Laundering Control Act. His wife, Huang Jui-ching, was sentenced to ten months in prison, suspended for four years, and fined NT$1 million. The court judgment stated that following the exposure of the Chen family's corruption scandals, Chen Chih-chung and Huang Jui-ching followed the instructions of his mother, Wu Shu-chen. They utilized multiple offshore shell companies and secret trust accounts in Swiss banks to assist in disguising and concealing millions of US dollars in illegal proceeds (popularly known as the 'NT$700 million overseas cash') obtained from the Nangang Exhibition Hall and Longtan Land Acquisition corruption cases. Following the dismissal of his appeal, Chen Chih-chung was legally stripped of his Kaohsiung City Council seat and entered prison to serve his sentence in May 2023. The final verdict put a significant judicial comma in the premier family's massive money laundering network that had embroiled the politics of the Republic of China for over a decade. It laid bare the dark methods used by nepotistic elites to move illicit wealth internationally. As a law graduate and elected representative who chose to break the law by laundering money for his parents, Chen's penalization upheld the dignity of the nation's law and demonstrated the resolute stance of the judiciary against corruption.