TAIPEI: Former Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian was in custody yesterday after being questioned in a money-laundering case.

Chen, 58, left a special prosecutor's office in handcuffs after more than five hours inside as about 300 police officers guarded the area to fend off any protests.

Chen raised his hands into the air to show his handcuffs to a crowd of media outside the prosecutor's office before he was pushed into a waiting car to be driven to a Taipei district courthouse.