Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"If the first trial finds me guilty, I will still run" said Ma, who is set to register his candidacy for the KMT presidential primary soon.
"They would not get what they want by trying to use litigation to beset me, or even knock me down," he said.
Ma is suspected of embezzling NT$11 million (US$332,425) and was indicted on Feb. 13 on corruption charges.
Prosecutors alleged that between December 1998 and last July, Ma wired half of his monthly special allowance -- NT$170,000 -- directly into a personal account. They also claimed that Ma has NT$11,176,227 in bank accounts belonging to him and his wife.
Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chang Wen-cheng (張文政) said that while Ma's monthly salary as mayor was about NT$150,000, Ma had deposited NT$200,000 each month into his wife Chou Mei-chin's (周美青) bank account.
This, Chang said, led prosecutors to suspect he was embezzling public funds.
Prosecutors added that Ma had included the money in his mandatory annual declaration of assets, but that he had failed to explain what legal basis he had for keeping public funds in a personal bank account.
Ma also said yesterday that he would invite Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Asked by the press if he was worried that Wang, who recently expressed his intention to run for the presidency himself, could announce his candidacy as an independent, Ma said that Wang "would probably not do this."
Registration for the KMT primary begins tomorrow.
In related news, former KMT acting chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
Whether the two will run on the same ticket remains contingent on whether either is willing to be the vice presidential candidate, Wu said.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique