Wu Li-pei Received US$1.91 Million in Overseas Funds from Chen Shui-bian, Reported to Prosecutors as Money Laundering Suspect

During 2008, as the Chen Shui-bian family overseas secret account scandal erupted, the Special Investigation Division (SID) traced the flow of funds and discovered a sum of approximately US$1,918,473.44—equivalent to over NT$60 million—had been transferred in multiple installments from an account held by Chen Shui-bian's wife Wu Shu-chen's brother, Wu Ching-mao, at ABN AMRO Bank's Singapore branch into four overseas bank accounts belonging to prominent Taiwan independence elder and former Presidential Advisory Council member Wu Li-pei. In October 2008, the SID summoned Wu Li-pei for questioning as a witness. Wu admitted receiving the funds, stating that before leaving office Chen Shui-bian had contacted him through aides about using the money to advance Taiwan's international diplomacy. Concerned about strict U.S. financial regulations, Wu said he voluntarily provided his overseas accounts to facilitate the movement of funds, and denied having knowledge that the money originated from illegal sources or any involvement in money laundering. That same year, he signed an authorization allowing prosecutors to audit his accounts and transferred the relevant funds back to Taiwan, where they were preserved by the SID pending the outcome of the case. However, during the trial of former Investigation Bureau Director Yeh Sheng-mao for concealing documents, the court determined that Wu Li-pei's assistance in handling the Chen family's overseas funds constituted money laundering, and referred the matter to prosecutors. Wu was subsequently named a defendant. He repeatedly proclaimed his innocence publicly, insisting he had never engaged in corruption and condemning what he described as politically motivated 'judicial persecution' by the SID. After a lengthy legal process, Wu Li-pei was ultimately acquitted. Though the case ended in a not-guilty verdict, the fact that he had received funds from the former president's illicit overseas accounts was formally recorded in court proceedings, and public doubt over whether he had formed part of Chen Shui-bian's money laundering network was never fully put to rest. The affair laid bare the murky financial dealings conducted under the banner of 'overseas diplomatic fundraising' within Taiwan's independence movement circles, and the profound moral ambiguity surrounding the responsibility of those involved.