TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) has been suspended from the party for three years, only days after TPP Chair Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said she would take charge of reforms and would not be asked to resign.

TPP central committee chair Li Wei-hua (李偉華) announced Huang's suspension after a two hour meeting of the committee on Tuesday (Aug. 20). He said Huang will be suspended as the TPP caucus convener, but did not comment on if she would remain a legislator going forward, instead saying that those decisions were up to a separate internal investigation team within the TPP.

Li said Tuesday's decision regarding the suspension of Huang was made based on assessments of “political action and poor responsibility.” An investigation team focusing on wrongdoing among legislators would make any further decisions around Huang's future as a lawmaker, Li said. 

Huang served as the TPP’s campaign director during the 2024 presidential election and was suspended amid a corruption scandal relating to the misreporting of campaign finances that prosecutors say happened under her watch.

The party’s former campaign accountant Tuanmu Cheng (端木正) and campaign staffer Li Wen-zong (李文宗) were also expelled from the party during the Tuesday meeting. Cheng is under investigation for misreporting campaign spending and was released by prosecutors on NT$1 million (US$30,974) bail on Wednesday (Aug. 14). 

Multiple others involved in the TPP’s 2024 election campaign have been listed by prosecutors as suspects in a corruption probe.

Ko has committed to reforming the party, a process which he said on Sunday would be led by Huang. Ko has blamed the apparent financial discrepancies on a lack of staff and poor record keeping and has denied knowledge of wrongdoing.

Huang joined the TPP in April 2023 to support Ko’s presidential bid after serving as Taipei’s deputy mayor between 2019 and 2022. She was elected to the legislature on the TPP party list in January.