Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chief Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) stepped down
from his post on Tuesday after prosecutors indicted him on corruption
charges, but immediately declared that he was innocent and would seek the
presidency in 2008.
Prosecutors indicted Ma for allegedly siphoning funds from his “special
allowance” fund when he was mayor of Taipei.
“Ma Ying-jeou is suspected of embezzling a total of NT$11 million
[US$333,000], and he has been indicted on corruption charges,” Taiwan High
Court Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chang Wen-cheng (張文政) told a press
conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Chang said that from December 1998 to last July, Ma had wired half of his
monthly special allowance — NT$170,000 — directly into a personal account,
and prosecutors found that Ma still had NT$11,176,227 in his and his wife's
bank accounts.
INTENT?
Chang said Ma told prosecutors during the investigation that he acknowledged that the mayoral allowance was supposed to be spent on public affairs.
Therefore, prosecutors decided Ma knew that keeping the funds in a private
account was illegal, and he had therefore intentionally taken the money.
Chang said that Ma's monthly salary was about NT$150,000, but he deposited NT$200,000 into his wife Chow Mei-ching's (周美青) bank accounts every month.
Therefore, prosecutors said they believed Ma used the public funds for
private purposes.
Chang said Ma had included the money in his annual declaration of assets, as
required by the law.
EVIDENCE?
Although Ma told prosecutors he had spent around NT$5 million on donations to non-government organizations, charity groups and academic research organizations, prosecutors found that in fact the money originated from election subsidies and surplus funds from his two Taipei mayoral campaigns, Chang said.
One of Ma's aides, Yu Wen (余文), was indicted on corruption charges late
last year for using fraudulent receipts to claim reimbursements from the
special allowance fund.
Prosecutors with the Black Gold Investigation Center — part of the Taiwan
High Court Prosecutors' Office — also held a press conference on Tuesday to
discuss the probe.
Prosecutor Eric Chen (陳瑞仁), who indicted first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍)
and three presidential aides on corruption and forgery charges in connection
with the handling of the presidential office's state affairs fund, and Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁), were both involved in the investigation.
Eric Chen said Ma had failed to explain what legal basis he had for keeping
public funds in a personal account.
The Ministry of Justice has previously said that special allowances should
be seen as a “substantial subsidy” (實質補貼) for officials, and therefore
do not require clear accounting.
But Eric Chen said prosecutors rejected this logic, as well as the Ministry
of Justice's view that a “lenient approach” should be taken in investigations into special allowance funds.
The prosecutor said he looked forward to debating the legal issues of the
case during Ma's trail.
DEFIANCE
In an evening press conference, Ma was unfazed by the indictment, officially
announcing his presidential bid after resigning as party chairman only two
hours after his indictment was announced.
“My innocence has been questioned, and my integrity — to the surprise of
many — has been impugned. For me, this is more painful than losing my life,”
Ma said at KMT headquarters.
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