Investigator charged with corruption

A vice squad investigator at Taichung County Police Station has been charged with corruption, theft and blackmail, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.

Chang Tsung-wen (張宗文) took advantage of his post by providing information about the owners of stolen cars to a criminal ring, who would then extort money from the victims under the pretence they would get their cars back, the report said.

According to the report, Chang surrendered himself to police after his accomplice, Lee Cheng-lin (李正霖), was arrested on Monday.

In initial questioning, Chang admitted his role in the scam and said he received kickbacks from the ring.

The performance assessment committee of the county's police station decided to dismiss the 33-year-old from his post as a result of the admission.

Chang said that he provided the car owners' information to Lee, who then defrauded the victims of money, ranging in amounts from NT$10,000 to NT$25,000, which was deposited into dummy accounts. Chang said he had withdrawn more than NT$300,000 from the accounts.

Police decided to stake out ATMs frequently used by the ring after receiving an increasing number of complaints from the owners of stolen cars.

On Monday afternoon, Lee was arrested while trying to withdraw money from an ATM near a department store in Taichung City.

Chang may have been prompted to join the crime ring to help his father out of financial difficulties.

The report quoted unnamed sources as saying that Chang's father recently bought a house under the name of Chang Tsung-wen, but later had difficulty paying the loan.