Taiwan's Wu pleads guilty to laundering $2.2M

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan's former first lady admitted to laundering $2.2 million and forging documents Tuesday — the latest in a judicial process that has seen her husband stage a jailhouse hunger strike, her daughter lash out at media, and her son plead guilty to similar charges.

Wu Shu-bian, who arrived in her wheelchair looking wan in an orange Burberry jacket and light gray trousers, told a three-judge panel that she sent abroad $2.2 million she received from a contractor in connection with a government construction project and that she forged documents related to a special presidential fund.

However, she did not admit to charges of embezzling money from the fund and other charges of taking bribes in connection with a land deal and the government construction project. She did not say whether the money was a bribe — as prosecutors allege — or a political donation as she has repeatedly suggested.

The case against Wu is part of a complex web of charges that has also ensnared her husband, former President Chen Shui-bian, as well as her son, daughter-in-law and brother.



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