taking it in the neck

Not to let Ma off the hook, but you have to admire a guy who takes it in the neck for his boss:

Former Ma secretary Yu leaves prison

Wen (余文), a former secretary to President Ma Ying-jeou during his time as Taipei mayor, was released on parole yesterday after serving nine months in jail.
Wu was found guilty of graft and sentenced to 14 months for using fraudulent receipts to claim reimbursements from Ma’s special mayoral allowance fund.
Yu was a city government staffer when Ma was accused of misusing his special allowance during his eight-year tenure as mayor.
The case began more than two years ago when the Special Investigation Panel of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors’ Office indicted Ma and Yu on charges of corruption.
Prosecutors alleged that Ma had embezzled more than NT$12 million (US$400,000) from the mayoral fund with Yu’s help.
Prosecutors discovered that Ma had donated more than NT$11 million to charities during the same period.Yu admitted to forging receipts to apply for funds for Ma.
The Taipei District Court handed down the first verdict on Aug. 14, 2007. Ma was found not guilty of corruption. Yu, however, was sentenced to 14 months, which was later reduced to 12 months by the Taiwan High Court.

... Asked whether he felt Ma should have pardoned him, he said: “I made the mistakes myself, so I should take responsibility.”

... When asked whether he felt he had been used as a scapegoat, Yu declined to respond, but said he would face his future with courage.


Which, of course, won't take too much courage. Surely Ma has a desk with a nice view reserved for him at the Office of the Mister