An official at the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Taipei chapter on Friday said he would resign over allegations that his son had been implicated in a narcotics and fraud investigation.
Chao Ying-kuang’s (趙映光) son, Chao Chieh-yu (趙介佑), faces accusations of having been involved in racketeering, assault and kidnapping related to organized crime.
Chao Ying-kuang resigned as convener of the Taipei chapter’s review committee after earlier saying that his son should be expelled from the party.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
Taipei chapter head Enoch Wu (吳怡農) said he had no prior knowledge of the accusations against Chao Chieh-yu.
Two days after hearing about the allegations, Wu initiated the expulsion of Chao Chieh-yu from the party through the chapter’s disciplinary committee, he said.
Chao Chieh-yu’s party membership would likely be revoked tomorrow as party bylaws require providing three days of advance notice before expelling a member, he added.
“We have zero tolerance for gangs. No one will be protected after breaking the law or contravening party discipline,” Wu said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that “no one will be allowed to jeopardize the government’s integrity.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is also DPP chairperson, said in her first speech to the party following her re-election last year that integrity is a founding value of the DPP, Su added.
“Government integrity is a lifelong, personal tenet of mine, as a founding member of the DPP,” he said. “Anyone who contravenes this value should be held accountable through party discipline, and applicable laws should be enforced to the fullest.”
In a Facebook post yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐) said that Tsai, as DPP chairperson, should “apologize and explain” the scandal surrounding the DPP’s Taipei chapter.
Chao Chieh-yu in 2016 was an adviser to Tsai’s presidential campaign office in Taipei, he said.
Tsai has told the National Police Agency that it must quash drugs, gangs and fraud, Cheng said.
“Would [Tsai] please start with the gangs and drugs in the DPP?” he added.
Additional reporting by Yang Kuo-wen and Lin Hui-chin
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