No blood, no bullet in Chen case

NO bullet holes or blood were found on Taiwan ex-leader Chen Shui-bian in a 2004 election eve shooting, raising new suspicion about the incident that preceded a razor-thin victory, investigators said yesterday.

A dead man was named as the only suspect in the March 19 incident, closing the shooting case in 2005, but many in Taiwan believe Chen's campaign set it up to draw sympathy votes.

No blood or bullet penetration was found on Chen, then an incumbent, after he was thought to be shot and slightly injured during a campaign rally in south Taiwan, Taiwan's Control Yuan said in a report. Running mate Annette Lu was also shot.

Today's ruling Kuomintang party, which lost the 2004 election, asked for a new probe earlier this year.

"This still calls for a deeper probe," the Control Yuan, a government agency charged with investigating conduct by public officials, said in the report.

Chen was convicted in September in a case of graft, money laundering and other charges stemming from his term in office from 2000 to 2008. He received a life prison sentence and is in jail, although he has appealed the verdict.

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