From Bloomberg:
Ma Ying-jeou (È©¨Ë㱉πù), the presidential candidate of Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang, was cleared by a Taipei District Court today of fraud charges that could have derailed his campaign for the March 2008 election.
Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (Ëî°ÂÆàËÆ≠) announced the decision, which the prosecution can appeal, at 10 a.m. local time. Taiwan’s stock market reversed earlier declines within 3 minutes of the announcement before closing lower.
Ma, 57, charged with misusing NT$11.2 million ($339,743) of city funds while he was Taipei mayor, faced disqualification from the presidential race if convicted. He has pledged to focus on the economy and improve ties with China if elected and leads the ruling party’s candidate, Frank Hsieh (Ë∞¢Èïøª∑), by 13 percentage points, a United Daily News poll said yesterday. [Full Text]
