Chao Chien-ming, the former son-in-law of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian, travelled quietly to Vietnam following the breakdown of his marriage, and the discovery that one of the friends accompanying him was a former fellow inmate has put the family scandal back in the headlines.

• Chao Chien-ming had not appeared in public since Chen Hsing-yu made the marital breakdown known, and in the middle of this month he boarded a flight to Vietnam with friends.
• One of the travel companions, Tsai Ping-hsiung, was a fellow inmate during Chao's time in prison, and news of the connection has stirred discussion in Kouhu Township, Yunlin County.
• Tsai Ping-hsiung was sentenced to two years in prison and deprived of his civil rights for acting as a go-between and delivering bribes on another person's behalf to the late former Kouhu township chief Tsai Yung-chang. The case has been finalised.
• The purpose of the bribe at the time was straightforward: to secure a job on the township office's sanitation crew for the son of a fellow villager, in exchange for cash and gifts.
• After his release, Tsai Ping-hsiung returned home to run a mullet roe business and went on to become chairman of the village temple committee. His neighbours only learned of his past from the news.

Outlook: Chao Chien-ming has still made no public statement about the breakdown of his marriage, and the resurfacing of this old case will only draw closer outside scrutiny of his movements.