FORMER Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou appeared in court again yesterday, disputing the admissibility of the evidence presented by local prosecutors who have charged him with corruption.

Ma, former leader of Taiwan's main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), affirmed his innocence and said he believed the court would render justice, according to local media.

The next session is scheduled May 8, China News Service reported.

Ma first appeared in court April 3, pleading not guilty to the corruption charges on the opening day of his trial.

At that session, Ma said that as Taipei mayor he had used the government special allowance funds in line with the conventions the Taiwan authorities have followed since 1988, and had never personally applied for reimbursement from the special funds.

Earlier media reports said that if Ma is found guilty, a slew of similar cases will follow because 65,000 other government chiefs have acted in the same way as Ma.

Special allowance funds are allocated by the Taiwan authorities to executive officers at various levels in Taiwan. Official receipts are only required for half the special allowance funds, while the spending of the other half only requires the signature of the official.

Regulations concerning the expenditure of special allowances have never been clear. Lu Hsiu-lien, Su Tseng-chang, Hsieh Chang-ting and Yu Shyi-kun, major leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party, have all been found to be involved in similar cases, but prosecutors seem to be inactive in investigations.

Taiwan prosecutors indicted Ma on charges of corruption Feb. 13, accusing him of diverting 11 million New Taiwan dollars (US$333,000) from the Taipei mayor's special allowance funds to his private account during his tenure as Taipei mayor.

Ma resigned as KMT chairman after the indictment but immediately declared that he would be a candidate for the 2008 election for Taiwan leader.

(SD-Agencies)