This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

The former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian was formally arrested today over money-laundering and corruption allegations which he has described as political persecution.

Taipei's district court ordered his detention on suspected corruption, bribery, forgery, money laundering and illegal possession of state assets. "The court, after questioning the suspect, believes the suspected crimes to be severe," it added in a statement.

"And there are enough facts to believe there was buried evidence, fabrication, altered evidence and conspiracy among suspects or witnesses."

The 57-year-old denies all charges.

The prosecutor's office said Chen could be held indefinitely before charges are filed, but there was no intention to delay. The first three charges carry minimum prison sentences of five years on each count.

Members of Chen's family and former aides are also under investigation. Chen led the country from 2000 until spring this year, when his pro-independence Democratic People's party suffered a landslide defeat at the hands of the Nationalists.

The new president has focused on building closer ties with the mainland - signing landmark deals including agreements on direct flights and shipping.

Chen has blamed behind-the-scenes pressure from the Nationalists for the aggressive investigation, and suggested they were attempting to placate China following angry protests against last week's high-level talks with the mainland.

"He's spoken his viewpoint that this is political persecution and a political plot to get him," his lawyer, Cheng Wen-lung, told reporters.

The prosecutors' spokesman said the allegations relate to two cases, one involving misuse of a confidential state affairs fund and another related to money laundering.

Members of Chen's family are suspected of sending at least $30.4m (£19.9m) to Japan, the United States, the Cayman Islands, Singapore and Switzerland, among other places, local media have reported. The prosecutor's spokesman declined to confirm the amount.

Prosecutors said they wanted to determine whether the funds were donations left over from political campaigns - as Chen says - or whether bribery might have been involved.

George Tsai, a political science professor at Chinese Culture University in Taipei, told Reuters: "They must have hard evidence, and it will hurt the DPP's image for sure. "I don't know if it will cause social unrest or not. We might see minor demonstrations."

The Nationalists say Chen's claims of political persecution are intended to divert attention from the allegations, while a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council described the claim that Beijing was involved as "pure fabrication".