Taiwan drops graft charges against former top officials

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwanese prosecutors said on Wednesday that they had decided to drop charges against two former top officials in a corruption case involving nearly US$30 million (S$37 million) embezzled from the government.

A businessman had accused former vice premier Chiou I-jen and former foreign minister James Huang of "splitting" the diplomatic fund with him in 2006 under the island's previous government.

However, prosecutors said in a statement that there was insufficient evidence to prove that "Chiou and Huang took any actions to embezzle the public fund or colluded or collaborated with the businessmen".

Chiou and Huang resigned in May 2008 over the scandal in which two businessmen allegedly pocketed the money earmarked to help diplomatically-isolated Taiwan forge official ties with Papua New Guinea.