Taiwan freezes ex-president's assets: court official

A Taiwan court has frozen the domestic assets of former president Chen Shui-bian, intending to use them to pay off a fine he was handed on top of a life jail term for graft, a spokesman said Wednesday.

"The assets include money deposited in the Chen family's domestic bank accounts, shares, houses and land," Chen Yun-nan, a spokesman of the Taipei district court, told AFP.

He declined to specify the value of the assets frozen, but the Taipei-based China Times said they were worth up to 500 million Taiwan dollars (15 million US dollars).

Chen, 59, and his wife Wu Shu-chen were both sentenced in September to life in jail for graft and other abuses carried out during his years in power from 2000 to 2008.

At the same time, Chen and his family were fined more than 800 million Taiwan dollars.

Prosecutors have said they are also seeking the return of some 20 million US dollars from the bank accounts held by the Chen family in Switzerland.

Chen, whose term as president ended in May last year, is appealing his conviction as is his wife.

He has dismissed his conviction as a political vendetta by the current China-friendly government for his lifelong push for the island's independence.

Some legal scholars have expressed concern over the handling of Chen's case, particularly criticising the length of his detention, which started last December.