Taipei prosecutors on Tuesday took a step forward in investigating the money-laundering case of the former Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian, with the detention of one of his top aides, Ma Yong-cheng.

Ma had been interrogated by prosecutors five times, but on Tuesday the prosecutors put him on the list of defendants in the money-laundering case and sought court approval for his arrest.

Ma was an ex-director of Chen's office. He allegedly used the power of his position to gain money and public property.

Meanwhile, Su Chih-feng, magistrate of Yunlin County, was detained on the same day by local prosecutors for allegedly taking bribes from a company. Su is a member of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party.

Taiwan's Investigation Bureau received information on Jan. 29 indicating that Chen's daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching, had set up a bank account in the Cayman Islands and was suspected of money-laundering.

Since then, prosecutors have found that Chen's family remitted nearly 1 billion New Taiwan dollars (30.8 million U.S. dollars) to accounts in Switzerland, Singapore, the Cayman Islands and other places.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2008)