Taiwan's ruling party chief quits

By Caroline Gluck
BBC News, Taipei

Mr You says all the funds have been spent on public affairs

The chairman of Taiwan's governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has resigned after being indicted on charges of corruption and forgery.

You Shyi-kun is one of three DPP members indicted by prosecutors on Friday. He denies any wrongdoing.

The three face a minimum of seven years in jail if convicted of corruption and up to seven years for forgery.

These are the latest cases of corruption scandals involving high-ranking public figures.

Highly damaging charges

In a statement, Mr You announced he was stepping down as DPP chairman just hours after prosecutors said he and two other party members, Vice-President Annette Lu and former Foreign Minister Mark Chen, would face corruption and forgery charges.

Mr You stressed that he was innocent.

He maintained that funds he had received as part of a special allowance, given to about 6,000 high-ranking public office holders, were all spent on public and not private affairs.

Mr You has been charged with misusing some $72,000 (£36,000) while he held several posts, including that of premier.

The charges against all three senior figures will be highly damaging for the party, which has prided itself on fighting corruption, and comes just before legislative and presidential elections early next year.

Fund overhaul calls

But there will be some relief that the DPP's presidential nominee, Frank Hsieh, and his running mate, Su Tseng-Chang - who were also investigated by prosecutors - were cleared of all charges.

On Saturday, Mr Hsieh said investigations into the expense funds were a waste of resources and pledged to declare an amnesty if he were elected next March.

His rival, Ma Ying-Jeou, the presidential nominee for the opposition Kuomintang, was cleared last month in a trial in which he faced similar charges.

There have been calls for an overhaul of the special allowance fund, which allows officials to treat guests or pay for gifts, and only requires them to submit invoices for half of the funds.