Former Taiwan president Chen Shui- bian requested to be kept in solitary confinement on his first night in Taipei's Tuchen Jail following his arrest on corruption charges.Under Taiwanese law, Chen, 57, can be detained for up to four months, but his detention does not constitute a formal indictment.
He will be known by his assigned number, 2630.
It marks an ignominious fall for the man who incensed the mainland and roiled the United States with his contentious pro-independence policies.
He is being held in the same suburban facility where as a dissident leader 21 years ago he served eight months for defaming an official of the ruling Kuomintang during the waning days of Taiwan's infamous martial law regime.
Chen's first meal of his latest stretch - lunch - included deep fried yam balls, bacon with collard, minced pork with seasonal vegetables and, for desert, tapioca balls. For dinner he had sweet and sour pork.
The prosecutor's office said Chen could be held indefinitely before charges are filed, but there was no intention to delay.
"The court, after questioning the suspect, believes the suspected crimes to be severe," Taipei District Court said.
"And there are enough facts to believe there was buried evidence, fabrication, altered evidence and conspiracy among suspects or witnesses."
The prosecutor's office listed five possible charges: graft, seizure of public assets, taking advantage of his office to illegally obtain public assets, taking bribes and for
gery.It said that a guilty verdict for the first, second and third charges would carry a minimum prison sentence of five years on each count.
Members of Chen's family and former aides are also being probed.
Chen denies any wrongdoing and has sought to cast himself as a victim of score-settling by the Kuomintang. "He has made his point of view clear that this is political persecution and a political plot to get him," his lawyer, Cheng Wen-lung, said after the arrest.
Legal proceedings against Chen - including a prosecutorial interrogation - lasted for nearly 21 hours from start to finish.
They were interrupted for several hours after Chen complained that he had been injured while being transported from a prosecutors' office in downtown Taipei to the nearby court building. He was returned to the court after doctors found he had sustained only a minor muscle tear that required no special treatment, said court spokesman Huang Chun-ming.
His questioning by a special team of prosecutors focused on allegations he laundered money and made illegal use of the special presidential fund during his eight years in office that ended in May.
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