Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was today found not guilty of leaking classified information by Taipei District Court, Taiwan’s Central News Agency has reported.
Today’s verdict applies to one of a series of cases filed against Ma, who left office in May 2016.
The case was initially brought in 2013 by Ker Chien-ming (柯建明), caucus whip for the now-ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Ker accused Ma of leaking details received from Prosecutor-General Huang Shyh-ming (黃世銘) regarding an investigation which included wiretaps into allegations that Ker and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) were improperly using their influence. The material was allegedly leaked to Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強).
The former president, who has maintained his innocence throughout the saga, still faces a suite of other legal battles related to the 2013 incident.
That includes charges from the Taipei District Public Prosecutor's Office, which earlier this month charged Ma with violations of the Communication Security and Surveillance Act and the Personal Information Protection Act. The charges carried a maximum sentence of three years behind bars.
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