The premier is demanding NT$3 million (about US$100,000) in compensation and public apologies on the front page of four newspapers.

Lee said that during the December 2008 voyage, Wu and Chiang Chin-liang, a night market manager from the premier’s home region of Nantou, had discussed gravel deals and the choice of the future speaker and vice speaker of the county council. Lee is the DPP candidate for Nantou in the December 5 county magistrate elections.

Wu said no such discussions took place, and the trip was organized purely to learn lessons from the Indonesian island’s tourism development. He said Chiang had left his life of crime, which included more than 30 charges, behind and changed for the better.

On Friday, Wu gave Lee three days to come up with evidence or apologize. Since he did neither, Wu sent attorney Lai Su-ju to file a suit for defamation at the Taipei District Court Tuesday morning. If the premier won the NT$3 million in compensation, he would donate it to charity, Lai told reporters.

In the afternoon, Wu said he was willing to drop the case at any time if Lee still admitted he was wrong and apologized.

Lee said Monday there was a secret witness, but on Tuesday he said he had no way of contacting the person, who was not a politician. After Wu launched his legal action against Lee, the witness would be willing to testify in court if his safety was guaranteed, the DPP candidate said.

The premier repeated his claims from Monday that Lee was imagining the witness.

“There is no secret, so there is no witness,” Wu said, again denying he had discussed gravel and political appointments with Chiang.

Lee said he would not apologize, but instead demanded Wu apologize to the people of Nantou for going on a trip with a gangster and for describing him as a good person.

Lee said that Chiang should leave the county, because if he won the election, he would drive organized crime out of Nantou. Lee’s rival in the election, incumbent Kuomintang county magistrate Lee Chao-ching, also took part in the trip to Bali.

The DPP said it hoped the judiciary could soon bring clarity to the question of whether the premier had a close relationship with a convicted gangster or not.

After the allegations against Wu and Chiang broke in a magazine case last week, the premier was also accused of accepting political donations from the gangster and of helping him arrange a visit to an imprisoned colleague.

Wu said Chiang once refused to let him pay for an election event, while the visit to prison was handled by a local office aide as a form of service to voters.