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Verdict in Ma's special allowance case due on Dec. 28

The Taiwan High Court announced yesterday that the verdict in Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) second graft trial would be handed down on Dec. 28.

The court yesterday finished hearing the case, in which Ma is accused of embezzling NT$11 million (US$333,000) from his special mayoral allowance during his eight years as Taipei mayor.

Ma criticized state prosecutors yesterday, saying he had been victimized.

"Prosecutors chose me as a target and indicted me," Ma told the court.

Ma said that prosecutors had completed nine investigations into the use of special allowances, but that only he had been indicted.

Officials are only required to account for half of their speciall allowance expenditures.

Ma said that the charitable donations he made during his term of office exceeded the special allowance funds he received. This, he said, meant that he had not embezzled any public funds.

However, prosecutors rejected this argument.

Ma told the court he was innocent and believed his name would be cleared.

Prosecutors allege that, between December 1998 and July last year, Ma wired half of his monthly special allowance -- NT$170,000 -- directly to a personal bank account.

In this way, prosecutors said that Ma had accumulated NT$11,176,227 in bank accounts belonging to himself and his wife.

Ma was indicted on Feb. 13, with the Taipei District Court delivering a not-guilty verdict on Aug. 14.

However, prosecutors appealed the case to the High Court.

During the first and second trials, Ma admitted he had taken half of his monthly special allowance for personal use. He said he believed government officials' special allowances should be treated as income, not as public funds.

The Taipei District Court decided that government officials' special allowances should be treated as a substantial subsidy -- as income -- and so found Ma not guilty of embezzling public funds.
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