TAIPEI : A Taiwanese court on Tuesday cleared the main opposition's presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou of corruption charges after a high-profile trial, a verdict expected to boost his chances in the race.

Ma, who was chairman of the nationalist Kuomintang party until he resigned following his indictment, hailed what he called a "milestone ruling".

"I am not excited about the verdict because I knew from the very beginning that I'm innocent," he said.

He blasted the legal process as "a waste of national resources" and urged prosecutors not to appeal.

It was not immediately clear if prosecutors would appeal.

Under Taiwanese law they would have to do so within 10 days.

Outside court, dozens of Ma's supporters holding placards burst into cheers on hearing the ruling.

The former justice minister, once tasked with stamping out corruption, was charged with misusing more than 11 million Taiwan dollars (US$330,000) in expense accounts during his time as Taipei mayor from 1998 to 2006.

Ma denied the charges, insisting he acted in exactly the same way as some 6,500 other government chiefs entitled to special expenses.

"Ma Ying-jeou is not guilty," the Taipei court's chief judge announced in a brief ruling.

Court spokesman Liu Shou-sung said the judges "found Ma made no attempt to obtain illegal benefits."

"Nor had he used tricks to mislead his (Taipei city government) accountants and auditing staff into wrongdoing," he said.

Accordingly, "the charges of corruption and breach of trust against Ma do not stand."

The ruling is expected to boost Ma's chances in the tight race to succeed President Chen Shui-bian in the vote next March, in which he is pitted against former premier Frank Hsieh of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

The DPP cried foul.

"The ruling indicates that politics has interfered in the judicial system," DPP legislator Hsieh Hsin-ying said.

Another angry DPP legislator Wang Shih-chien also hit out at the verdict, saying he "could not figure out how the judges could make such a ruling, which runs against the public's consensus of corruption. Taiwan's justice is dead."

One of Ma's former aides at Taipei city hall, however, was sentenced to 14 months in prison.

He had been charged with switching receipts in filing Ma's expenses claims.

Ma's running mate is veteran economist Vincent Siew, while the DPP's Hsieh has invited former premier Su Tseng-chang onto his ticket, according to news reports. - AFP/ch