The Taipei District Prosecutors office said yesterday that it had yet to decide whether to appeal former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) corruption case to the Supreme Court.
Ma, the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) presidential candidate, was found not guilty of corruption by the Taipei District Court on Tuesday.
During the trial, Ma admitted he had taken half of his monthly special mayoral allowance for personal use, but said he believed that government officials' special allowances should be treated as income, not as public funds.
The court on Tuesday ruled that government officials' special allowances should be treated as a substantial subsidy, or income, so Ma had not embezzled public funds.
In a separate setting yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chung-mo (林重謨) threatened to sue Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁) if he refused to appeal the case.
Ma accused Hou of asking "leading" questions, quoting answers out of context and falsifying Taipei City Treasurer Wu Li-ju's (吳麗洳) testimony, Lin said.
"Those are serious accusations," Lin said. "Hou should be angry about them and file an appeal."
Lin also said Hou may have violated Article 125 of the Criminal Law (刑法) regarding the abuse of power by public servants if the accusations made by Ma were proven.
Meanwhile, People First Party Legislator Lee Fu-tien (李復甸) yesterday presented a petition to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Prosecutors Office, asking that they swiftly convene a meeting of high-level prosecutors to reach a ruling on special allowance funds.
If prosecutors reached a consensus that special allowance funds should be treated as income, prosecutors should not appeal Ma's case, Lee said.
The Supreme Prosecutors Office yesterday said that it does not plan to convene a meeting to discuss special allowance funds.
Prosecutors have conflicting interpretations of whether the funds should be classified as public or private money. A decision by the office would have an impact on the investigations into the handling of similar funds by several DPP politicians, including presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
Also see story:
Editorial: Ma Ying-jeou's halo loses its luster
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS