The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Taipei

Former Taiwan president and anti-China firebrand Chen Shui-bian was indicted on Friday in connection with a series of corruption-related scandals involving himself and family members.

Prosecutors said they would recommend the heaviest sentence possible on charges of graft, forgery and money laundering.

The charges were the first filed against Chen since his November 12 arrest when he was detained. No other former Taiwan president has faced criminal prosecution.

"Ex-president Chen Shui-bian's crimes are major," said Chen Yun-nan, spokesman for the Supreme Court's special prosecutor's office. "We will ask the courts to give ex-president Chen Shui-bian the strictest punishment."

Chen, whose pursuit of independence for self-ruled Taiwan upset rival China and Taiwan's main ally the United States during his presidency from 2000 to 2008, denies wrongdoing and has described the probe involving him as a political plot.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.