Tue, Dec 19, 2006 page3

• Team to investigate escort allegation

  SLEAZE BUSTERS The DPP said that for now it would not suspend the memberships of two legislators and and a councilor-elect involved in a newspaper sex scandal

  • By Flora Wang / STAFF REPORTER
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  Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters yesterday said it would organize a special team to investigate a media allegation against DPP Legislators Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) and Yu Jan-daw (余政道) and Taipei City Councilor-elect Lee Ching-feng (李慶鋒).

  The Director of the DPP's Department of Culture and Information Super Meng (孟義超) told a press conference that DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Yi-cheng (林宜正) and Central Standing Committee member Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) will be in charge of investigating whether the three attended late-night gatherings with female escorts.

  Meng said the men's memberships would not be suspended for now but did not specify if they would be referred to the DPP's Central Review Committee for disciplinary action.

  Gao yesterday also told DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) that he was willing to undergo investigation by the party's Integrity Committee, which was established last year to look into members' involvement in corruption, bribery, and illegal lobbying.

  Whether he will be referred to the Integrity Committee depends on the party's decision which may be made during tomorrow's Central Executive Committee meeting.

  According to DPP guidelines, party members are liable to punishment if their behavior violates the party's resolutions or damages its image.

  If the wrongdoing is a violation of members' integrity or involves conflicts of interest, the matter is referred to the Central Review Committee after being investigated by the Integrity Committee first.

  The party instigated its crisis management after a front-page report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily on Sunday alleged Gao, Yu, Lee and presidential aid Kuo Wen-pin (郭文彬) enjoyed escorts' company in separate late-night gatherings held in a Taipei guesthouse.

  The report showed pictures of Gao, Yu and Lee leaving the location alone before dawn while a series of four pictures showed Kuo giving a woman a ride in his car.

  DPP legislators were divided over how to deal with Gao, Yu and Lee. DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) told the media that as long as they did not violate the law or damage the party's image when visiting the guesthouse, the incident should be regarded as "a matter of one's personal upbringing and ability to control oneself."

  Any speculation before facts are established would harm the individuals, he said, urging DPP members not to "make something out of nothing."

  DPP Lawmaker Tsai Chi-fang (蔡啟芳) told a press conference that Gao, Yu and Lee might only have been meeting friends at the guesthouse.

  "It is all right as long as they were not involved in wrongdoing," he said.

  DPP Legislator Lin Chung-mo (林重謨) said he believed all legislators had been to guesthouses and night clubs and that referring the three to the party's Central Review Committee would be harsh.

  DPP Legislator Wang Shu-hui (王淑慧), however, said her colleagues' comments showed "men's support for men" instead of "party members' support for each other."

  She said Gao, who also acts as the convener of the Central Review Committee, should ask the party headquarters for a period of leave in order to avoid a conflict of interest and that the party caucus' Discipline Committee should then propose an investigation to the party headquarters' Central Review Committee.
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