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TAIPEI - TAIWAN'S Supreme Court on Thursday cleared president-elect Ma Ying-jeou of corruption charges in the final ruling on the high-profile case, less than a month before he takes office.
'The Supreme Court, after deliberation, rejected the appeal by prosecutors and upheld the verdict of the High Court which found Ma Ying-jeou not guilty of graft and breach of trust charges,' said court spokesman Chang Tsun-tsung.
Ma, from the Kuomintang (KMT) party, won a landslide victory in March presidential elections.
He was accused of misusing more than 11 million Taiwan dollars (S$458,203) in expense accounts when he was Taipei mayor, but was cleared by a district court last year and later by the High Court upon prosecutors' appeal.
The Supreme Court, in the verdict, cited the lower court ruling that 'the defendant had no intention to swindle money using his position nor engage in fraudulent acts.'
Mr Ma has denied the allegations, insisting that he acted the same way as 6,500 other government officials entitled to special expenses.
He said the case was an 'ugly tactic' by the Democratic Progressive Party trying to crush his presidential bid.
The corruption allegations stemmed from a decades-old system of allotting special funds to higher-ranking government officials. Analysts say the rules governing the funds are vague and full of loopholes.
The High Court, in handing down its not-guilty verdict in December, ruled that the funds 'should be considered as subsidies to officials, and that Ma was found to have complied to the rules and committed no crime in handling the funds.' -- AFP
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