Lee, a former lawmaker for the Democratic Progressive Party, accused Wu Friday of having discussed gravel deals and the choice of Nantou County Council speaker and vice speaker on a December 2008 trip to Bali with Chiang Chin-liang, a man with a violent criminal past.

Wu responded by threatening legal action if Lee did not come up with evidence and did not apologize by Monday. Lee said he would not apologize, but had a secret witness who felt threatened by organized crime.

Facing reporters Monday, Wu said he would give Lee until midnight. If the DPP candidate for the December 5 county magistrate election failed to come up with evidence or an apology by then, Wu said he would take legal action on Tuesday.

“If he can supply evidence that I arranged (gravel deals and the choice of speaker and vice speaker), I will immediately resign,” Wu told Monday.

He dismissed Lee’s secret witness as “a figment of his imagination.”

The DPP candidate said the key problem was the close relationship between Wu and Chiang. The nation’s premier and a former gangster were so close they could travel overseas together, Lee said.

The DPP candidate said Wu should hurry up and take legal action, so the witness could meet investigators on the condition his identity would be kept confidential.

The premier also responded Monday to media reports that Chiang gave him a political donation worth NT$100,000. Wu said he wanted to rent a piece of land from Chiang’s night market in Tsaotun, Nantou County, on November 1, 2008, to stage a campaign event.

Wu wanted to pay NT$100,000, but Chiang refused to accept any money, so he had to file the sum with the Control Yuan as a non-cash donation, Wu said. The premier said the fact that he registered the sum with the nation’s top watchdog body showed he was honest.

Lee criticized Wu for first denying the report of political donations and then admitting to it but giving it a twist.

DPP lawmakers said Monday that a gravel company had donated NT$200,000 to Wu’s election campaigns.

The allegations have overshadowed the end of the first month of Wu’s term as premier. President Ma Ying-jeou appointed him at the head of the Cabinet after widespread criticism at his predecessor Liu Chao-shiuan for the government’s handling of Typhoon Morakot.

In Nantou County, Lee is waging a campaign trying to unseat Kuomintang incumbent Lee Chao-ching, who was also present on Wu’s trip with Chiang to Bali.

Both sides have traded accusations of connections to the former gangster. Wu said Chiang was only a recent acquaintance, and had bettered his life after serving in prison for his crimes.

The DPP’s Lee has admitted he might have met Chiang during visits to the market, but refuted reports that he had asked him for his support in the campaign.