Taiwan prosecutors on Tuesday appealed to the island's High Court a court decision to release the island's former leader Chen Shui-bian after his indictment on corruption charges.

The court has not yet made a decision on whether to take Chen into further detainment.

Chen was released early Saturday morning without bail on his own recognizance after a month's detainment, but was banned from leaving the island.

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) under Taiwan's prosecution authorities indicted the former leader on Friday after finishing an investigation into allegations that Chen engaged in money laundering and other offenses during his recently concluded time in office.

Chen was detained on Nov. 12 on accusations of money laundering and misusing a special fund during his eight years in office. His term ended in May.

Chen and his wife were alleged to have embezzled 104 million New Taiwan dollars (3.15 million U.S. dollars) in public funds and accepted bribes of about 9 million U.S. dollars in a land purchase deal.

His wife was also alleged to have taken a kickback of 2.7 million U.S. dollars from a construction project, according to prosecutors.

Their son, daughter-in-law and 10 others were also said to have assisted in concealing the crime and remitting the money to overseas bank accounts.

Taiwan prosecutors have said earlier that they were seeking "the severest punishment" for Chen.

They also recommended a heavy sentence for his wife Wu for "using her status to interfere in politics and rake in money and undermining the system."

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2008)