During his arrest Chen accuses current President Ma of trying to please Beijing. The mainland, for whom the former president was a thorn in the side, denies the allegations. But for prosecutors there are “enough facts” about tampering with evidence and “conspiracy among suspects or witnesses” to warrant prosecution.

Taipei (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Beijing quickly denied any connection between its warming ties with Taiwan's government and the detention on Wednesday of Chen Shui-bian, the island's former pro-independence president who was disliked by the mainland.

Chen (pictured after his arrest) was detained after an 11-hour hearing for embezzlement during his term in office.

When he was taken away by police he shouted in the presence of media “political persecution, judicial persecution,” accusing current President Ma Ying-jeou of trying to appease Beijing angered by the violent protests that dogged last week’s visit to the island by the mainland’s envoy.

Fan Liqing, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, said that the accusation was “pure fabrication.”

President Ma, who replaced Chen after eight years in power, has not made any statement. His election has improved relations between the two countries; tense during Chen’s term in office because of the latter’s support for the island’s formal independence.

Beijing instead considers Taiwan part of its territory and has always said that it would intervene militarily in case of a formal declaration of independence.

Improved ties led to last week’s visit to Taiwan by Chen Yunlin, the highest ranking official to come from the mainland since 1949.

The two sides have signed important agreements, but the five-day visit was marred by non-stop street protests which angered Beijing.

For his part Chen is accused of embezzling millions of dollars in unspecified secret diplomatic funds deposited first in the Cayman Islands before finally ending up in Swiss bank accounts.

In calling for Chen's detention, prosecutors said they wanted to determine whether the funds were indeed donations left over from political campaigns, as Chen claims, or whether bribery might have been involved.

“The court, after questioning the suspect, believes the suspected crimes to be severe,” the District Court said, adding that “there are enough facts to believe there was buried evidence, fabrication, altered evidence and conspiracy among suspects or witnesses,” it said in a statement.

Under Taiwanese law, Chen can be detained for up to four months while investigations continue.

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