DOUBLE STANDARDS?
A DPP lawmaker allegedly also gambled illegally, but was overlooked, as they were from the same party, people said online

• By Chen Tsai-ling and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday named Internet celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢) as a defendant on gambling allegations, adding that he could be summoned for questioning in the next few days.

Chen earlier this week in a livestream said he had been an illegal baseball betting broker when he was younger.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) and Chen Hsien-wei (陳賢蔚) on Thursday went to the office to press charges against him.

Photo: Screen grab from Holger Chen’s YouTube channel

Chien said that Holger Chen’s remarks tainted the championship of Taiwan at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 this month, citing retired baseball star Chou Szu-chi’s (周思齊) experience of being coerced by gangsters into throwing games.

She called for an investigation into Holger Chen on allegations of gambling, fraud and contravention of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例), adding that she expected prosecutors to punish unlawful deeds, as required by the law.

The office yesterday named Holger Chen as a defendant on allegations of illegal gambling and handed the case to the prosecutors responsible for major criminal cases for further investigation.

Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) was called out by Holger Chen in a livestream on Thursday.

Chuang in a video of a legislative meeting on Oct. 15 allegedly said he was involved in illegal sports betting, local media reports showed.

Chuang on Thursday said that he was referring to legal sports betting.

Holger Chen said that Chuang should have been more honest instead of being hypocritical, and urged the lawmaker to bear the responsibility of his actions, just as he did, as their involvement in illegal betting jeopardized Taiwan’s baseball environment.

Some people online also asked why Chien did not press charges against Chuang, accusing her of double standards and saying that she overlooked the same issue, because it was committed by a member of her party.