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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Taiwan ex-leader jailed for life | Taiwan ex-leader jailed for life |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Taiwan's former President Chen Shui-bian has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of corruption by a court in Taipei. | Taiwan's former President Chen Shui-bian has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of corruption by a court in Taipei. |
| Mr Chen was charged with embezzlement, taking bribes and money laundering, involving a total of $15m (£9m) while in office from 2000-2008. | Mr Chen was charged with embezzlement, taking bribes and money laundering, involving a total of $15m (£9m) while in office from 2000-2008. |
| Mr Chen had denied the charges, saying they were politically motivated. | Mr Chen had denied the charges, saying they were politically motivated. |
| His wife, Wu Shu-chen, already jailed for perjury in the case, was also sentenced to life for corruption. | His wife, Wu Shu-chen, already jailed for perjury in the case, was also sentenced to life for corruption. |
| The two were accused of embezzling $3.15m (£1.9m) from a special presidential fund and laundering it through Swiss banks. | The two were accused of embezzling $3.15m (£1.9m) from a special presidential fund and laundering it through Swiss banks. |
| They were also accused of accepting at least $9m in bribes from a Taiwanese company to help it sell a piece of land to the government and of accepting nearly $3m more in kickbacks for helping a contractor gain a government project. | They were also accused of accepting at least $9m in bribes from a Taiwanese company to help it sell a piece of land to the government and of accepting nearly $3m more in kickbacks for helping a contractor gain a government project. |
| Mrs Wu had been sentenced on 2 September to one year in prison for perjury for asking her children to lie in court. | Mrs Wu had been sentenced on 2 September to one year in prison for perjury for asking her children to lie in court. |
| CHEN SHUI-BIAN CHARGES Embezzling $3.15m from a presidential fundTaking $9m in bribes over a land purchase dealTaking nearly $3m in kickbacks over government contractLaundering money in Swiss bank accounts Differing views on Taiwan trial | |
| Nine other accused, including Mr Chen's son and daughter-in-law, have pleaded guilty to some charges related to the case. | Nine other accused, including Mr Chen's son and daughter-in-law, have pleaded guilty to some charges related to the case. |
| The case gripped the nation, correspondents say, with many expecting a guilty verdict but some believing it was political revenge on the part of the new ruling party. | The case gripped the nation, correspondents say, with many expecting a guilty verdict but some believing it was political revenge on the part of the new ruling party. |
| Mr Chen says the charges against him are politically motivated, constructed by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) government to please Beijing. | |
| Relations between Beijing and Taipei have been improving since the KMT, under President Ma, took office last year. | |
| Taiwan has been ruled separately from China since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, when the defeated Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan to create a self-governing entity. | |
| But Beijing sees the island as a breakaway province which should be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary. | |
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