Former Kuomintang (KMT) party chairman Ma Ying-jeou yesterday appeared in court in Taiwan for the sixth session of his trial on corruption charges, local media reported.

Before appearing in the local court in Taipei, Ma was reported as saying the court would understand that he had not swindled expense funds once the whole procedure for claiming the funds had been clarified.

Three secretaries who worked for him when he was Taipei mayor took the stand at the court yesterday.

Ma was charged with misusing more than 11 million Taiwan dollars ($330,000) in expense funds during his tenure as mayor of Taipei.

(China Daily July 4, 2007)