The High Court of Taiwan heard the alleged embezzlement case of
former Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou' again on Friday,
Taiwan's local media said.
On Friday, another two witnesses including Shih Su-mei,
commissioner of Taipei City's Budget, Accounting and Statistics
Department were questioned in court.
This second trial started on Oct. 5, nearly two months after Ma
was cleared by a lower court on Aug. 14. Prosecutors in Taipei
successfully appealed to the High Court of Taiwan against the
acquittal of Ma.
In August 2006, legislators from Taiwan's Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP) accused Ma of misusing "expense funds" for senior civil
servants and politicians.
Ma was accused of misusing more than 11 million New Taiwan
dollars (US$330,000) in expense funds during his tenure as mayor of
Taipei.
Ma resigned as chairman of the KMT, Taiwan's leading opposition
party, after being indicted on Feb. 13, but declared that he would
run for the 2008 Taiwan leader election.
The Kuomintang Party (KMT) endorsed Ma as its candidate for
Taiwan leader in the 2008 election on June 24. Ma has made Vincent
Siew, a veteran economist, his running mate.
The expense funds, also known as special allowance funds, are
allocated by the Taiwan authorities to executive officers. Official
receipts are required for half of the funds. The spending of the
other half only requires the signature of the official.
(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2007)