It took less than an hour on Friday afternoon for the 78-page indictment of Wu Shu-chen, Taiwan’s first lady, to spread all over the island’s websites. By early evening, students, professionals and housewives were poring over the document and discussing details of what reads like a detective story.

Prosecutors charged the wife of president Chen Shui-bian with alleged corruption, document forgery and perjury. The Taiwan High Court Prosecutors’ Office said she and Mr Chen had “jointly used the opportunities provided by [his] office to swindle” T$14.8m (US$450,000) from a discretionary presidential budget for secret diplomacy and other purposes. They also said they had proof that the president himself had illegally profited from his office.