Taiwan's high court announced a verdict of "not guilty" on
Friday for the second trial of former Kuomintang (KMT) party
chairman Ma Ying-jeou in a special fund case.
Ma was accused of misusing more than 11 million New Taiwan
dollars (US$330,000) for expense funds during his tenure as mayor
of Taipei.
Ma's second trial began on Oct. 5, nearly two months after a
lower court cleared him on Aug. 14. Prosecutors in Taipei then
successfully appealed to the high court against Ma's acquittal.
The high court maintained the "not guilty" ruling of the first
trial and also cleared Ma of the charges of breach of trust and
fraud in Friday's verdict.
Analysts say that the verdict will have great impact on the 2008
Taiwan political elections because a conviction in the case could
have sent Ma to prison and barred him from running as the KMT
candidate.
In August 2006, legislators from the ruling Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) accused Ma of misusing expense funds during
his tenure as Taipei mayor. Ma resigned as chairman of the Chinese
Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's leading opposition party, after being
indicted on Feb. 13, but declared that he would run in the 2008
Taiwan political election.
The KMT endorsed Ma as its candidate on June 24. Ma has made
Vincent Siew, a veteran economist, his running mate.
The expense funds, also known as special allowance funds, are
allocated to executive officers by the Taiwan authorities. Official
receipts are required for half of the funds. The spending of the
other half only requires official's signature.
(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2007)