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Pro-Chen legislator denies report of romantic liaison

A legislator who recently launched personal attacks against Shih Ming-teh (施明德), initiator of a movement to oust President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), was yesterday put on the spot by a report saying he was having an affair with a 23-year-old woman.

A story in the latest edition of Next Magazine, a Chinese-language weekly, alleged that Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) spent three hours with his female assistant, surnamed Ho, in a motel, in Wugu Township (五股), Taipei County, on Sunday.

Wang held a press conference yesterday to deny the report, saying that he and his assistant visited the motel for business reasons.

Wang added that he and his assistant were not alone, but offered conflicting accounts of how many other people were in the room.

Early yesterday, Wang said he and his assistant were accompanied by a woman and her two children. However, later on, he said there had been only one child.

Wang said the woman contributed NT$300,000 (US$9,137) toward a pro-Chen activity he had organized last Saturday in 228 Memorial Park, and that he and Ho had arranged a meeting with the woman because he did not want to accept the donation.

He said that it was the woman's idea to meet in the motel, but that he hadn't thought it was an odd suggestion.

"When [TV political commentator] Wang Ben-hu (汪笨湖) and I were discussing the details of the `826' pro-Chen activity, I met him in the motel in which he was staying," Wang said.

Meanwhile, Wang Shih-cheng said that he had learned from the woman during the meeting that Shih's plan to oust Chen had been mapped out in April or May, and that Shih had conspired with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Buddhist Master Hsing Yun (星雲法師) in formulating the plan.

Wang played what he said was an MP-3 recording of his meeting with the mysterious woman donor-cum-informant at a second press conference later yesterday in support of his explanation. However, it was difficult to discern what the speakers were talking about when listening to the voice recording.
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