Taiwan court sentences ex-president to life for graft

TAIPEI - A Taiwan court Friday sentenced scandal-tainted ex-president Chen Shui-bian to life for corruption, in a widely watched case dubbed by local media Taiwan’s trial of the century.

Chen was also fined 200 million Taiwan dollars ($6.09 million) and stripped of his civil rights for life, Judge Tsai Shou-hsin ruled.

Chen, 58, who was president from 2000 to 2008, has been held at the Taipei Detention Centre since December on charges of corruption.

He and his wife were charged in December with embezzling $2.97 million in state funds, accepting $14 million in bribes, as well as money laundering, influence peddling, extortion and document forgery during his stint as president.