Taiwan's former leader Chen Shui-bian was on Friday acquitted of embezzling a special public fund, but sentenced to additional jail terms for other crimes, according to the ruling given by Taiwan's high court.

Chen Shui-bian.[File photo]

The court ruled that Chen was not guilty of embezzling a special public fund but upheld his previous convictions for document falsification and money laundering in the first retrial of his case.

The new ruling leaves Chen, who is serving a 17.5 year sentence for other corruption crimes, with an additional two years and eight months in prison, but he still has the option of appealing the latest verdict.