Taiwan opposition leader Ma charged with corruption

TAIPEI, Feb 13 (Reuters) Taiwan's high court prosecutor said today it had indicted opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou, considered a front-runner to become the island's next president in 2008, for corruption.

The indictment, announced by a spokesman for the prosecutor's office at a news conference, could deal a blow to the Nationalist Party, which aims for closer ties with China, just as its political fortunes appeared to be on the rise.

The charges also come at a time when Taiwan's independence-leaning President Chen Sui has been beset with financial scandals involving his wife, son-in-law and former aides.

''Ma Ying-jeou is suspected of misappropriating US 339,000 dollars) of special funds, which do not require documentation for reimbursement,'' the high court prosecutor's office said in a statement.

A spokesman for the Nationalist Party said Ma's party membership would be suspended, in accordance with party by-laws. But Ma could be reinstated later if cleared in court.

A representative of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called on Ma to apologise.

The Nationalists, also known as the Kuomintang (KMT), were preparing to hold a news conference to address the indictment.

Ma and his party are considered relatively sympathetic to Beijing, which sees the self-ruled island as part of its territory.

RUN AS INDEPENDENT The prosecutor in mid-November began looking into allegations that Ma diverted money from a special fund that he used during his tenure as mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006.

Ma had previously said he would step down as chairman of the Nationalist Party if he was indicted.

Ma could not could not run for the presidency as a member of the KMT if he was suspended from the party. Analysts said last week that were this to be the case he could run as an independent with informal backing from the party.

Ma is likely to deliver on his promise to step down as party chairman, but that would not necessarily rule out a run for president in 2008, said George Tsai, research fellow at National Cheng Chi University.

''In the last few days, he has also mentioned the possibility that he will not give up his responsibility to the country, so even if he decides to resign, I think he doesn't exclude the possibility that he will run,'' Tsai said.

China quietly supports Ma's expected candidacy for the presidential elections, said Hsu Yung-ming, assistant research fellow at the think-tank Academia Sinica in Taipei.

Days after the probe began, Ma said the mayor's office had done its own review of the funds in question and discovered that some expense reimbursements were done improperly. He apologised but said the incident was not an example of corruption.

Ma left the mayoral post at the end of his term in December.

In a separate but similar case, President Chen Shui-bian's wife was indicted in early November for alleged misuse of the presidential office's confidential state affairs fund, and court hearings are under way.

The state prosecution has also said that there is enough evidence to indict the unpopular president, though he cannot be prosecuted while in office.

REUTERS DKA RN1457