Prosecutors say police in bed with prostitution ring

Kaohsiung police falsified reports in order to make it appear as though they getting tough on prostitution, prosecutors alleged yesterday.

What's more, Kaohsiung pro-secutors say, the records were also falsified to allow local prostitution rings to continue operations.

The Kaohsiung District Pro-secutors' Office investigating the "Nong Nong" (儂儂) prostitution ring was tipped off by several unusual entries into police records.

According to 1997 police interview records, the ex-wife and brother-in-law of the ring's boss, Chen Wu-tsai (陳武才), engaged in a sex-for-hire transaction. A 1999 record said Chen's sister-in-law and brother-in-law also engaged in a sex-for-money deal.

But the unlikelihood of prostitution occurring among family members led prosecutors to believe the police records had been fabricated.

"Police officers wanted to get good marks and the illegal sex industry wanted to survive. So they reached the deal, we suspect," said Chou Chung-chin (周章欽), spokesman for the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office.

"We suspect this kind of practice could have been prevalent across the county between 1997 and 1998, a time when authorities had claimed they were cracking down hard on the illegal sex industry," Chou said.

Chen, his ex-wife and his brother-in-law have been detained since May for allegedly bribing police. Prosecutors questioned three Kaohsiung police yesterday.