Taipei district court judge Tsai Shou-hsun presided over the second hearing of Ma’s trial for corruption in connection with the misuse of his expense account, while he was mayor of the capital city from 1998 to 2006.

The hearing started at 9:30 a.m. and ended at noon. Tsai said a third hearing will take place on May 8.

Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen summoned Ma for questioning as a material witness first. During the questioning, however, Ma was told he was a “defendant.”

“As I recall now,” Ma told the court, “I was being induced to answer questions as a defendant.”

That is against the code of criminal procedure, because Ma was not accompanied by a defense lawyer. But the prosecutor claimed Ma was told to have a lawyer present during the questioning.

At the questioning, Hou said, Ma was accompanied by his municipal legal advisor Chen Ching-hsiu, who, however, was rejected as a defense lawyer. Though a qualified lawyer, she was disqualified because she was a public functionary.

Now no longer the municipal legal advisor, Chen appeared in court as Ma’s defense attorney and charged Hou with “ambushing” the former Kuomintang chairman.

Indicted on February 13, Ma may be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, if he were convicted of taking NT$11,176,227 unlawfully from the expense account allowances.

His former assistant Yu Wen was present at the hearing. Yu was indicted for corruption and forgery, charged with pocketing NT$760,000 and borrowing large invoices from friends to write off petty cash payments for the former mayor.

More than 20 Kuomintang lawmakers were at the courthouse to show support for Ma. A crowd of over 100 Ma supporters held a rally in front of the courthouse, claiming his innocence and demanding that judges hold the trial independently.

A half dozen Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers were also present. They all said Ma showed lack of self-confidence at the hearing.

“That proves that Ma thinks he is guilty,” said Lin Chung-mo, a maverick DPP legislator elected from Taipei.

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click hereSharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 800 characters max

Receive China Post promos

Respond to this email