Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator William Lai (
Lai told a press conference that Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英) rented the location of his headquarters from former Tainan County councilor Chen Ming-chih (陳明志), who lost his seat on the council following a court ruling sentencing him to one year in prison for operating illegal gambling activities in 2000.
Lai said that Chen is known as a major operator of liuhecai (六合彩), an illegal gambling play on the numbers of Mark Six of Hong Kong, in southern Taiwan, and he wouldn't rent the 600-ping (1,980m2) location to Huang just because he wanted to collect rent.
"Doesn't [renting the location] violate your claim of integrity? Were there secret under-the-table deals?" Lai asked, adding that he suspected Chen had made political donations to Huang.
Lai showed the press some background information on Chen, but did not present any evidence backing his suspicion of a relationship between Chen and Huang.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Huang Chao-hui (
He hinted that Huang Chun-ying might have promised to help Chen deal with his unpaid taxes, which total NT$900 million (US$27.8 million), if he wins the mayoral election on Saturday.
Huang Chao-hui did not present proof, however, to support his allegations.
In response, Huang said his campaign team legally rented the building as his campaign headquarters, and he did not know who was the owner.
He added that if the landlord was really involved in illegal matters, he would not protect him after he is elected mayor.
Meanwhile, in Taipei, DPP mayoral candidate Frank Hsieh (
In response, Soong yesterday acknowledged that there were people who had pocketed money from the deal but did not elaborate further. Soong said he would focus his efforts on addressing municipal issues as a Taipei mayoral candidate.
"As a former premier, Hsieh must know more than I do, and so I will let him to do the explaining. I will focus on addressing municipal issues instead," Soong said.
Although the scandal has damaged Taiwan's image in the international community, the issue has nothing to do with the mayoral election and should not be discussed now, he added.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang
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