Taipei, Feb.27 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court revoked Friday a lower court’s ruling keeping former President Chen Shui-bian in custody before and during his trial on corruption and money laundering charges and demanded that the lower court deliver a new ruling in the case.

Chen, who has been detained since Dec. 30, appealed his case to the high court last Friday after the Taipei District Court rejected his request to repeal its decision to detain him.

Taipei District Court spokesman Chen Chun-ming said that once the court receives the high court ruling, a panel of judges will decide when to open a new hearing on the case.

In revoking the district court’s ruling to detain Chen, the high court stated in its verdict that only those highly suspected of having committed major crimes and show signs of fleeing the country or tampering with evidence as stipulated in Article 101 of the Criminal Procedure Law should be detained prior to trial.

In the former president’s case, the verdict said the district court failed to provide sufficient evidence to back its argument that Chen Shui-bian was very likely to be involved in major cirmes and might flee Taiwan.

Chen and his wife have been indicted on charges of siphoning off NT$104 million (US$3.12 million) from a special Presidential Office discretionary fund during his presidency from 2000 to May 2008.

They are also charged with accepting bribes in connection with a land procurement deal and receiving kickbacks by helping a contractor win the tender for a government construction project.

The high court said the nature and reimbursement procedures of the Presidential Office’s discretionary fund remain unclear and require further examination before it can be determined if Chen broke the law.

As to Chen’s role in the Lungtan land procurement deal, the high court said prosecutors did not provide concrete evidence to prove their claim that Chen collaborated with Lee Chien-mu, a former head of the Hsinchu Science Park Administration who has confessed to taking bribes in striking the deal.

Based on these arguments, the high court said the district court violated rules of logic in reasoning that there was a strong suspicion that Chen committed major crimes to justify its decision to keep Chen behind bars.

The high court also questioned prosecutors’ arguments that Chen had to be detained because he was a flight risk.

Prosecutors contended in their previous appeals seeking Chen’s detention that Chen might flee Taiwan because he had served as president for eight years, had wired money abroad and might possessed a large sum of assets that have not yet been confiscated, and many foreign leaders in similar cases had fled abroad to evade prosecution.

The high court ruled, however, that such arguments were not enough to prove that Chen could flee Taiwan if remaining free.

The high court also said the district court needs to further investigate whether prosecutors’ accusations that Chen could tamper with or destroy evidence were true.

Chen was first taken into custody Nov. 12 as prosecutors prepared their case against him. He was released after being indicted Dec. 13, but was jailed again Dec. 30 when a new judge assigned to the case in the Taipei District Court agreed with a prosecutors’ request to hold him in custody.

The Taiwan High Court had previously revoked lower court rulings to free Chen without bail.

The district court began a new round of pretrial sessions earlier this week. (By Sofia Wu)