The High Court upheld the not-guilty verdict for former president Ma Ying-jeou in the 'San-Zhong case' and dismissed the prosecution's appeal, the United Daily News reported on the 9th. The trial, running nearly eight years since indictment, thus ends in a final acquittal.

What the case was about

The case alleged breach of trust in the sale of the KMT's 'three China' media assets—China Broadcasting, China Television and Central Motion Picture—and old party headquarters, deals said to have shortchanged the party. Ma was KMT chairman at the time of the sales.

Prosecutors argued the prices fell short of fair value; the courts repeatedly found criminal intent hard to establish. With the appeal dismissed, the acquittal is final.

Eight years in court

The United Daily News called it 'eight years of entangled litigation.' A trial of this length with a former president as defendant is counted among the most protracted political cases in Taiwan's judicial history.

Ma's side said the judiciary had clarified the facts, and the KMT welcomed the ruling. Others note that the eight-year process itself exacted a heavy cost on both the defendant and society.

Political ripples

The final acquittal removes one burden from Ma's public activities. It may also renew attention to the long-standing issue of how party assets are handled in Taiwanese politics.

The same day, Taiwan's political scene was busy with Typhoon Bavi preparations and remarks by President Lai Ching-te.

A third lens

Sinophone Bridge Times reads this verdict not as a partisan win or loss but as a question of institutions: how long should the judicial handling of a political case take? Protracted trials are costly to any society, and the global Chinese community will remember this case as a measure of the distance between politics and the courts.