By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused the Taipei City Police Department of malfeasance for allowing a Chinese businessman with government ties to leave Taiwan after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in a Taipei hotel earlier this year.
The Chinese-language Next magazine on Wednesday reported that Liu Zhongkui (劉忠奎), president of Great Dragon Century, a Chinese cultural and arts management firm, allegedly sexually assaulted a hotel intern in his hotel room on Jan. 9, but was released by the police despite the alleged victim reporting the case.
Liu left Taiwan the next day.
The report cited Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as saying that the hotel was suspected of dissuading the victim from pressing charges, and that police officers neither inspected surveillance footage nor interrogated Liu, adding that the police listed the case as sexual harassment rather than compulsory indecency.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said the incident was the second sexual assault case this year in a Taipei hotel in which the alleged perpetrators were Chinese, and in both cases the police and the hotels tried to play down the incident.
“I have no idea why this is happening. Were they let go because they are Chinese?” Yeh said at a press conference.
“We condemn the inaction of the Taipei City Police Department and demand an explanation,” DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said, adding that the National Immigration Agency should strictly review visa requests from Chinese, especially those with criminal records.