The Taiwan High Court yesterday ordered the Yunlin District Court to review its ruling on the release of four men suspected of involvement in a multi-million dollar baseball game-fixing scandal.
"The Yunlin District Court will summon the four defendants for questioning [today] and decide whether to detain them," Yunlin District Court spokesman Kang Shu-jeng (康樹正) said.
Kang said that if the four did not appear in court today, it would issue warrants for their arrest.
Yunlin Prosecutor's Office spokesman Chiang Teh-lung (蔣得龍) said: "Prosecutors have appealed the case to the High Court and won. They will give more evidence of involvement in the scandal of the four [defendants] to the district court [today], and we hope that the court will agree to detaining them."
The Yunlin court agreed to detain Macoto Cobras coach Tsai Sheng-fong (蔡生豐) and La New Bears catcher Chen Chao-ying (陳昭穎), but it released Sinon Bulls translator Cheng Yu-wei (鄭祐衛) and alleged gangsters Lee Chuan-lin (李權麟), Tu Ming-tse (杜明澤) and Ho Chih-she (何志旭) on bail.
Prosecutors said they were frustrated by the decision and that the release of the suspects had interfered with the crackdown on the ring involved in the game-fixing.
The Yunlin court had also rejected the prosecutors' application to detain La New Bears starter Tai Long-shui (戴龍水) without bail.
Minister of Justice Morley Shih (施茂林) said the ministry would assign more personnel to cracking down on the scam. The ministry also gave its full support for the Yunlin prosecutors after they failed to have the defendants detained.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) yesterday said it was hoping to meet Shih today.
The league said it supported the investigation into the game-fixing scam, but hoped that the prosecutors would speed up their investigation to reduce any negative impact on ticket sales.
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