Taipei Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (
"I was born to defend justice," Huo told reporters at the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office's Special Investigation Section. "[Ma and Song] humiliated me and I think I deserve an apology from them."
"If they do not offer an apology, I will consider hiring a lawyer to file a suit against them," Hou added.
Ma and Song have also alleged that Hou was biased and asked leading questions when interviewing witness Wu Li-ju (
Hou was one of the lead prosecutors in Ma's corruption case, in which Ma was accused of misappropriating NT$11 million (US$333,000) from his special mayoral allowance during his eight-year tenure as Taipei mayor.
The court on Tuesday decided that special allowances do not constitute public funds, and hence found Ma not guilty.
Prosecutors are still deciding whether or not to appeal the verdict.
Ma said yesterday that he was the victim and there was nothing for him to apologize about.
"Apologize? It's strange, because I am the victim here," Ma said in Tainan County, adding that the court's decision to make the recording of the testimony public was the right one.
This had allowed the public to hear the truth, he said.
When asked if he wanted Hou to apologize to him for distorting the testimony, Ma said he wanted nothing but for the court to clear his name.
In related news, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers condemned the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for trying to pressure Hou not to appeal Ma's case.
The DPP lawmakers were referring to a visit made by a group of KMT lawmakers to State Public Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (
KMT caucus whip Tseng Yuan-chuan (
The KMT lawmakers also demanded that Chen exclude Hou from participating in the discussion on whether to appeal Ma's case.
Chen told reporters that Hou shouldn't be kept out of the discussion because he was one of the lead prosecutors on the case. He added that Hou should be given a chance to respond to the accusations made by Ma and Song.
DPP Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (
"The KMT should give prosecutors more room to consider wether to appeal the case or not," DPP Legislator Kao Chien-chih (
The KMT lawmakers plan to visit Control Yuan Secretary-General Fan Kuang-chun (范光群) this morning to discuss the special allowance issue.
Additonal reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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