Ma Ying-jeou's special allowance fund investigation to be finished within a week

I think in all likelyhood charges will be brought. Ma is even changing his statements, insisting not that he didn't break the law, but that he didn't know that putting half of the presidential allowance fund in his bank account was illegal. He considered it private money, not public, like virtually every major around the country did before this case, and therefore did not intentionally break the law (and so shouldn't be charged with corruption).

He also said yesterday that if he's guilty, so is virtually every DPP political heavyweight (including A-bian) and almost everyone who's been a major or county magistrate for decades.

My take is that he's probably right in that he didn't think it was illegal. The KMT intentionally created a system with slush funds all over the place. But I still hope he is charged, and any guilty DPP leaders are also charged.


馬特別費案 最遲下週五偵結 (自由時報)

許添財、許陽明案 將採一致性偵查標準

〔記者楊國文、林慶川／台北報導〕國民黨主席馬英九任職台北市長八年的特別費風波，據了解，高檢署查黑中心檢察官侯寬仁將於下週偵結此案，最遲是下週五， 昨日已著手撰寫偵查書類；同時，台南地檢署偵辦台南市長許添財、前副市長許陽明特別費案，下週也將偵結，高檢署指出，兩案的偵查標準、法律用事認定等項將 會一致性。

馬改稱「私款說」 法界：應有高人指點

馬英九接受多家媒體訪問，強調自始就認定，特別費經過核銷程序進入個人帳戶的半數特別費是私款，並非公款，沒有犯意，高檢署表示，馬英九可以有自己主張和 辯解，檢方會依相關事證和法律規定認定，不會受到外界的影響。但有法界人士認為，馬此「私款說」，是一個可能為自己解套的方法，應有高人指點。