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Ma insists on innocence as second trial starts

A supporter of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) holds a photo of the party's presidential hopeful Ma Ying-jeou outside the Taiwan High Court in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: PATRICK LIN, AFP

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) insisted that he was innocent as the second trial of his corruption case began yesterday.

"I was found not guilty in the first trial, so I am confident in my innocence, and I expect the court to render the same justice to me," Ma said before entering the hearing at the Taiwan High Court yesterday morning.

He was greeted by dozens of supporters waving his photo and placards reading "Restore Ma Ying-jeou's innocence" outside the courthouse. Although some opponents of Ma also showed up, only a few verbal exchanges occurred between the two sides.

Ma is on trial for allegedly misusing his special allowance fund during his stint as Taipei mayor from 1998 until last year.

He was indicted on Feb. 13 on corruption charges involving the suspected embezzlement of NT$11 million (US$337,500) from his special mayoral allowance during his eight years in office.

The District Court found Ma not guilty of those charges on Aug. 14, and prosecutors decided to appeal Ma's acquittal.

Ma and his lawyers said yesterday that special allowances received by government officials should be treated as a "substantial subsidy" -- essentially as income -- and not as public funds.

Ma said he found the prosecutors' appeal unreasonable.

"I've stated several times during the first-instance trial that I did nothing illegal at all. Nor did I have the intention of breaking the law, which is why I was found not guilty during the first instance," Ma said in the court. "Prosecutors therefore have no reason to appeal the verdict."

Prosecutors said they filed the appeal because Ma had stated during previous trials that he never used the special allowance fund for private use, which the prosecutors said was a false statement.

Ma stated several times during Taipei City Council question-and-answer sessions that the allowance fund was meant for public use, but still he used it for private purposes, prosecutors said.

In response, Ma said that he had only discovered the allowance fund should be used for public purposes after consulting with officials in July last year.

"I was unaware that the special allowance fund had to be used for public affairs until July 2006," he said.

It is uncertain whether the High Court will hand out its verdict before the presidential election on March 22 next year. If convicted of corruption, Ma faces a minimum of seven years in prison, but he could still appeal to the Supreme Court.

However, under the President and Vice President Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法), a candidate would be disqualified from running for president if the High Court sentenced the candidate to a prison term of more than 10 years.

Additional reporting by AFP
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