Lee said Wu took a trip to Bali last December with convicted gangster Chiang Chin-liang to discuss gravel contracts and choices for county council speaker and vice speaker. The trip was first made public by Next Magazine last Wednesday.

Wu admitted he made the trip, but again described Chiang as a man who had left his past behind him and started a better life. Chiang, now the manager of a night market in Wu’s home county of Nantou, was convicted of up to 30 charges involving arms smuggling and the death of a local politician.

“If Lee Wen-chung produces evidence that I went to Bali to handle gravel affairs and the choice of a speaker and vice speaker, then I will resign immediately,” Wu told a specially called news conference Friday.

If Lee did not come up with evidence within three days, he should apologize or face legal action, Wu added.

Wu also insisted he had paid the trip to Bali from his own pocket, showing off copies of his tickets to refute allegations that the Legislative Yuan, and by extension the taxpayer, had footed the bill.

The premier on Friday admitted for the first time that as lawmaker, his office had helped Chiang to visit a gangster at the Taichung Detention Center.

Wu said it did happen, but he only found out about it on Thursday. The premier described the arrangement as a normal thing to do by a lawmaker for a constituent. He said an assistant at his local office applied for Chiang to visit Kuo Ping-huei. The Taichung Detention Center confirmed the visit.

According to DPP lawmaker Lawrence Kao, the lawmaker who arranges the visit has to be present when it happens at the jail.

Wu said his legislative office in Nantou was closed after he left the Legislative Yuan to become premier on September 9, but he was never told about Chiang’s prison visit.

For the first time since the allegations about a close connection with Wu surfaced Wednesday, Chiang himself also held a news conference Friday in Tsaotun, Nantou County.

Chiang said he only first met Wu two years ago at a funeral and did not know beforehand that the politician would be on the trip to Bali.

He rejected all allegations of illegal activities, including involvement in the gravel business and attempts to influence the county elections.

In a surprise for most present, the top DPP official in Tsaotun, a woman named Huang Wen-chun, appeared at Chiang’s news conference to tell reporters she once arranged a meeting between Chiang and Lee. She said she once asked the former gangster to support Lee in the Nantou election.

Lee denied the claims, saying he might have met Chiang once during a public event and asked him for his support just like he would ask anyone he met.

The DPP candidate presented a video recording of Chiang standing on the stage at a campaign event with Lee Chao-ching, the incumbent KMT Nantou County magistrate running for re-election. The latter Lee also traveled to Bali with Wu and Chiang.