Poker-playing Taichung official resigns despite denying wrongdoing

Taichung, Feb. 19 (CNA) A Taichung official resigned Tuesday after coming under fire for playing poker on a workday, despite saying hours earlier he had "requested the day off" for the "legal" competition.

Liu Yen-li (劉彥澧), director of Taichung's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, said he handed his resignation letter to Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) on Tuesday evening.

The commission's deputy director, Huang Ming-hui (黃銘暉), will take over Liu's duties as acting director, according to the Taichung City government.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, Lu said she "respected" Liu's decision to resign.

"Director Liu expressed extreme self-reproach, and yesterday he expressed his intention to resign both verbally and in writing," she said.

Liu's resignation came despite him denying any wrongdoing after political commentator Wen Lang-tung (溫朗東) accused him in a Monday Facebook post of going to "play cards on a workday."

Liu had told reporters that he had asked for leave to attend the "legal, formal competition championship" organized by the Chinese Texas Hold'em Poker Club in January this year, which he said did not constitute illegal gambling under Taiwanese law.

Liu's wife, lawmaker Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), also responded to the controversy surrounding her husband that day, saying that the tournament was "a legal competition, not gambling."

However, she also said that "civil servants going to such places could indeed cause a negative social perception" and hoped that her husband would "reflect" on his actions.

Hsu, who represents Taipei's No. 7 Electoral District for the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), is among more than 30 KMT lawmakers who potentially face recall election votes this year after activist groups submitted signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) this month.

According to Taiwan's Public Officials Election and Recall Act, lawmakers shall be removed from office if more than half of at least 25 percent of eligible voters in their electoral district cast ballots in favor of a recall, and if the ballots in favor outnumber those against.