Former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison on charges he leaked classified information, making him the island’s second consecutive leader to face prison time and the third to be tried for a crime after leaving office.

The common fate of Taiwan’s former presidents points to soft spots in the legal system of a relatively young democracy, political scholars say. Judges come under pressure from Taiwan’s two major political camps, some analysts say, and Taiwanese increasingly demand that politicians be punished for graft that was once tolerated.

“Things are not yet institutionalized. We’re a developed country, but a lot of matters are still up to human beings, and in the legal system that’s all the more obvious,” said Huang Kwei-bo, international affairs college vice dean at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “We’ve got a lot of distance to cover. Superficially we are a full-fledged democracy but inside it’s not yet.”

The Taiwan High Court overturned an August district court verdict that found Ma not guilty of helping to leak classified information. Prosecutors had charged him with giving information in 2013 from a wiretap to his cabinet premier at the time, Jiang Yi-huah. A former government prosecutor authorized the wiretap to probe the suspected influence-peddling of justice officials by the former president of parliament.

Advertisement

The court found “objective facts” to support overturning the original verdict Tuesday and did not consider anyone’s political views, spokesperson Wu Wei-ya said. She said the judge gave Ma a sentence of four months, lower than the maximum of three years in prison, because he was guilty, but of a “light” crime.

“He should have a deep [legal] understanding and experience,” Wu said. “What he leaked out was rather limited and done orally rather than a whole document in writing.”

Ma served as president from 2008 to 2016, when he stepped down because of term limits. The 67-year-old law scholar and former justice minister — also an advocate of stronger ties with Taiwan’s political rival China — had campaigned for president on pledges to turn Taiwan into a model for clean government.

Ma’s predecessor Chen Shui-bian received a 19-year prison sentence in 2010 for crimes related to bribery and graft. The following year prosecutors charged former President Lee Teng-hui with embezzling state funds. Lee went to trial but was cleared. He was Taiwan’s first directly elected president and served for 12 years ending in 2000.

Advertisement

Chen and current President Tsai Ing-wen are backed by the same party. Ma and Lee ran with Taiwan’s chief opposition party.

Ma’s spokesperson Hsu Chiao-hsin said in a statement Tuesday the ex-president planned to appeal “to the very end” and that the disclosure of information in 2013 was “something a responsible president should do.”

Courts may feel a mandate from the Taiwanese people as they expect more honesty from their leaders now with the growth in democracy, said Jens Damm, associate professor in the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Studies at Chang Jung Christian University in Taiwan. Taiwan democratized in 1987 after four decades of authoritarian rule.

Corruption “was for a long time socially accepted, that everybody does it,” Damm said. “Then things changed, and it has led to people being charged and going to prison. People have been educated that this is not right.”

Political figures now may accuse courts in Taiwan of favoring their opponents when verdicts go against them, said Raymond Wu, managing director of Taipei-based political risk consultancy e-telligence. Chen, for example, had maintained he was innocent and called himself the target of a political plot.

Some supporters of Ma also questioned Tuesday whether the court had evidence.

“Judicial independence should be one of the last frontiers in terms of defending fairness and equality in any democracy,” Raymond Wu said. “If parties accuse the judiciary as always being biased or prejudicial, that’s not helping judicial independence.”

Jennings is a special correspondent.</s>Ma Ying-jeou, a former Taiwanese president, has been sentenced to four months in jail after being found guilty of leaking classified information when he was in office in 2013, according to Taiwan News website.

The country's high court said on Tuesday that Ma is liable for damaging the "character and rights" of Taiwanese opposition lawyer Ker Chien-ming when he leaked confidential information on him.

It said that Ma, 67, violated the Communication Security and Surveillance Act.

The decision overturned a Taipei district court ruling in August that cleared Ma of wrongdoing.

Ma could still avoid jail time by appealing the sentence or paying a fine of 120,000 Taiwanese dollars (equivalent to $4,000).

In a statement released by his office following the verdict, Ma said he would appeal the sentence.

The charges against Ma stemmed from a 2013 lawsuit brought by Ker, who sought charges against the then-president of leaking information taken from a tapped conversation in which Wang Jin-pyng, a powerful Nationalist Party legislator, pressed judicial officials to acquit Ker in a separate case.

Ma accused Wang of pressuring prosecutors not to appeal against the acquittal of Ker, who sought charges against the ex-president of leaking confidential information.

Ma served as the 18th president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016 and became Taiwan's third consecutive president to face criminal charges after his presidency.

During his tenure, he focused on improving relations with China.

When he stepped down from his position in 2016, he was very unpopular after eight years of poor economic performance, scandals and accusations of selling out to China, New York Times reported.</s>TAIPEI - A court in Taiwan on Tuesday sentenced former president Ma Ying-jeou to four months jail over a leak of information related to national security, legal documents showed, but he vowed to appeal, and could avoid jail altogether by paying a fine.

In the first conviction in a series of lawsuits against Ma since he left office in 2016, Taiwan's High Court overturned a lower court's judgment of not guilty, saying that he violated a communication and surveillance act.

"Ma Ying-jeou violated the Communication and Surveillance Act," the court said in its judgment, adding that the punishment for the sections infringed was four months' imprisonment.

The court found that Ma had leaked information related to national security, and an opposition lawmaker Ker Chien-ming, that should have been confidential.

Ma's sentence could, however, be avoided on payment of a fine of T$120,000 ($4,019), the court said in a statement, in line with Taiwan law that allows such payments for lighter sentences, instead of going to jail.

Ma told Taiwan media he planned to appeal. Reuters could not immediately reach Ma to seek comment.

A former stalwart of the opposition Nationalist or Kuomintang Party, Ma was Taiwan's president from 2008 to 2016, ushering in an era of closer ties with mainland China.

China considers self-ruled and democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province to be taken back by force one day, if necessary.

Beijing has taken an increasingly hostile stance over the past two years toward Taiwan, following the election of Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party to succeed Ma.</s>Former Taiwanese President Sentenced to Four Months in Jail

Taiwan's former President Ma Ying-jeou has been sentenced to 4 months in jail for leaking information https://bloom.bg/2rHzCzB #tictocnews (Source: Bloomberg)</s>Ex-Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was sentenced to four months in jail for leaking details of a criminal investigation while still in office, although the former Kuomintang leader could still avoid jail time by paying a fine or winning on appeal.

Taiwan’s High Court yesterday found Ma, 67, guilty of violating the Communication Security and Surveillance Act, according to Lin Ruey-bin, high court division chief judge. Ma had been found not guilty of the charges by a Taipei district court last year, a verdict prosecutors appealed. Ma said he would appeal the decision in a statement released by his office after the verdict.

Ma could also avoid time in jail by paying a TWD120,000 (USD4,000) fine, pending approval from prosecutors.

The judge found that Ma had improperly disclosed a wiretapped June 2013 conversation between the former legislative speaker, Wang Jin-pyng, and a Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker who had recently been acquitted of breach-of-trust allegations. Ma accused Wang of pressuring prosecutors not to appeal against the acquittal of the lawmaker, Ker Chien-ming.

While Wang was never indicted for wrongdoing, Ker sought charges against Ma for the leak. The former president was found to have broken the law by discussing details of the call with the then-premier and his deputy secretary general, according to the court.

Ma, who governed from 2008 to 2016 and championed closer ties with China, became Taiwan’s third consecutive president to face criminal charges after leaving office.

His predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, of the rival Democratic Progressive Party, was granted medical parole in 2015 while serving a 20-year prison sentence following his corruption conviction.

Lee Teng-hui, who oversaw Taiwan’s transition to direct democracy as president from 1988 to 2000, was found not guilty of money laundering and embezzling government funds in November 2013.

Ma met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015 in what was seen as a watershed moment for relations between the Communist Party and the Nationalists who had fled to Taiwan amid civil war in 1949. MDT/Agencies</s>Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was sentenced to four months in prison Tuesday on charges of leaking classified information, in a case that underscores differences between pro-China and pro-independence forces on the self-governing island.

The charges against Ma relate to testimony allegedly disclosed to him illegally in 2013 when he was president and facing challenges from opponents in the legislature.

Ma can appeal the sentence, which is also commutable to a fine.

China embraced Ma's pro-China Nationalist Party government, but has shunned that of his independence-leaning successor, Tsai Ing-wen, head of the Democratic Progressive Party.

Ma had originally been found not guilty of the charges last August, but prosecutors appealed the verdict.

The charges against Ma arose from a 2013 lawsuit brought by Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Ker Chien-ming, who accused the ex-president of leaking information from a wiretapped conversation.

Ma met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015 in what was seen as a watershed moment for relations between the Communist Party and the Nationalists who had fled to Taiwan amid civil war in 1949.</s>Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has been sentenced to four months in prison on charges of leaking classified information, in a case that underscores differences between pro-China and pro-independence forces on the self-governing island.

The case relates to testimony allegedly disclosed to Ma illegally in 2013 when he was president and facing challenges from opponents in the legislature. China embraced Ma’s pro-China government, but has shunned that of his independence-leaning successor, Tsai Ing-wen, head of the Democratic Progressive Party.

Ma had originally been found not guilty of the charges last August, but prosecutors appealed the verdict.

The charges against Ma arose from a 2013 lawsuit brought by Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Ker Chien-ming, who accused the ex-president of leaking information from a wiretapped conversation.</s>TAIPEI, May 15 (Reuters) - A court in Taiwan on Tuesday sentenced former president Ma Ying-jeou to four months jail over a leak of information related to national security, legal documents showed, but he vowed to appeal, and could avoid jail altogether by paying a fine.

In the first conviction in a series of lawsuits against Ma since he left office in 2016, Taiwan's High Court overturned a lower court's judgement of not guilty.

"Ma Ying-jeou violated the Communication and Surveillance Act," it said in its judgment, adding that the punishment for the sections infringed was four months' imprisonment.

The court found that Ma had leaked information related to national security, and an opposition lawmaker Ker Chien-ming, that should have been confidential.

Ma's sentence could, however, be avoided on payment of a fine of T$120,000 ($4,019), the court said in a statement, in line with Taiwan law that allows such payments for lighter sentences, instead of going to jail.

"This case is a type of constitutional lawsuit," he said. "What I´m fighting for is not just my own rights, but it´s also related to how the authority of Taiwan´s future presidents should not be limited."

He added, "Therefore I definitely need to clarify this problem, I definitely will appeal."

A former stalwart of the opposition Nationalist or Kuomintang Party, Ma was Taiwan's president from 2008 to 2016, ushering in an era of closer ties with mainland China.

China considers self-ruled and democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province to be taken back by force one day, if necessary.

Beijing has taken an increasingly hostile stance over the past two years towards Taiwan, following the election of Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party to succeed Ma. ($1=29.8570 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Taiwan bureau and Jess Macy Yu; Editing by James Pomfret and Clarence Fernandez)</s>TAIPEI: A Taiwanese court on Tuesday found former leader Ma Ying-jeou guilty in a political leaks case, his first conviction in a raft of lawsuits brought against him since he stepped down two years ago.

Ma was sentenced to four months in prison for violating the communication security and surveillance act, said the high court, overturning a previous not guilty verdict from a lower court.

Ma said on Tuesday he will appeal the sentence and remains free.

Ma was also convicted of breaching the personal data protection act and of “using his presidential power not for executing presidential legal duties,” the court added.

Under Taiwanese law any sentence under six months can be paid off with a fine.

The high court found that Ma had attempted to damage the “character and rights” of opposition lawmaker Ker Chien-ming when he leaked confidential information about an ongoing probe associated with Ker.

Investigators had been accused of tapping Ker’s phone to acquire the information.

The information that he obtained through his office “should have been kept secret,” a statement from the court said.

The leaks controversy sparked a political storm in 2013 and saw two top officials resign, while thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand Ma step down.

The DPP, then in opposition, compared the probe to the Watergate scandal in the United States.

The probe revolved around information gained from surveillance on Ker which implicated the then parliamentary speaker, a rival of Ma, in influence peddling.

Ma was not present when the verdict was announced. He had maintained his innocence throughout the trial and accused the prosecution of basing their case on flimsy evidence and speculation.

Ma’s office said he “deeply regrets” the verdict and that it had failed to take into consideration “that a president needs to fulfill his commitment to the constitution and his duties to the country.”

Last year, the ex-president was cleared of defamation charges and leaking confidential information by the Taipei district court in two separate cases also relating to the 2013 judicial probe into the parliamentary speaker.

While still in office Ma was protected by political immunity.

But since he stepped down as leader in May 2016 the 67-year-old has been hit with a string of corruption and other allegations.

Ma’s Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party held power from 2008 to 2016, before it was trounced by Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Ma was the third ex-president in Taiwan to be indicted on criminal charges.</s>Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was sentenced to four months in prison on Tuesday for leaking classified information.

Taiwan's High Court found that "Ma Ying-jeou violated the Communication and Surveillance Act," when he leaked information relating to national security and opposition lawmaker Ker Chien-ming, which should have been confidential.

Read more: Opinion: Young pop stars, national flags and the China issue

Ma told local media he planned to appeal the High Court sentence, but he could also skip prison if he pays a fine of T$120,000 ($4,020, €3,370), the court said.

A former stalwart of major opposition party Kuomintang of China, Ma was Taiwan's president from 2008 to 2016 and encouraged closer ties with China. He also served as the justice minister and mayor of Taipei.

The Tuesday ruling overturned a not-guilty verdict handed to Ma last year by the Taipei District Court.

In August 2017, the Taipei District Court ruled in Ma's favor, arguing that as president, he had had the power to intervene in disputes between different branches of government, but the High Court disagreed.

Read more: Is Taiwan's tourism industry too reliant on China?

High Court spokeswoman Wu Wei-ya told a news conference that Ma should have been aware that he was obligated to respect the confidentiality of the information.

The case relates to a high-profile leak from an investigation into senior Democratic Progressive Party opposition lawmaker Ker Chien-ming in 2013.

That year in August, then-Prosecutor General Huang Shih-ming showed Ma a transcript of wiretapped conversations from an investigation into Ker.

Days after, Ma allegedly encouraged Huang to leak the contents of the recording, Ker's personal details and other information to Premier Jiang Yi-huah.
Former President of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou is sentenced to four months in prison on charges he leaked classified information from a wiretap.