Taiwan's president-elect Ma Ying-jeou is not mulling granting a pardon for the outgoing leader Chen Shui-bian if he is convicted of corruption, a newspaper said Saturday. Speaking in an interview with the United Daily News, Ma said he would not interfere with the judicial system by proclaiming a pardon for Chen before the legal process on his case starts.
"I think a president should be very cautious to exercise the rights to grant a pardon because it interferes and violates the judicial rights," he told the paper on Friday. "The justice ministry has to study this and so far I am not considering it," he added.
Chen faces the threat of indictment in a corruption scandal that has already drawn in his wife when he leaves office after eight turbulent years. He will formally hand over the reins of office on May 20 to Ma of the Kuomintang party, a former justice minister and graft-buster who won a landslide victory last week.
In 2006, Chen was named by prosecutors as a suspect in an embezzlement case involving about 14.8 million Taiwan dollars (450,000 US). His wife Wu Shu-chen is already on trial on corruption and document forgery charges, but Chen enjoys presidential immunity - until he leaves office.