A Sports Affairs Council (SAC) official said yesterday that the nation’s professional baseball league would not fold over the latest match-fixing scandal.
“Professional baseball is the engine of baseball in Taiwan, so we will not let the professional baseball league fold,” SAC Deputy Director Tzeng Tsan-pao (曾參寶) said at the legislature.
Lee Wen-pin (李文彬), secretary-general of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), said he was not aware of any plans to shut down the CPBL.
“We will continue to prepare for next year’s games. As for whether some teams might disappear because of the scandal, I cannot speak for them,” he told reporters.
The CPBL was founded in 1989 and has four teams.
In recent years, it has been mired in repeated match-fixing scandals.
The latest of these erupted on Monday, a day after the Brother Elephants lost 5-2 to the Uni-President Lions in the CPBL championship.
Prosecutors have questioned more than a dozen players from three teams in the scandal.
On Wednesday, prosecutors listed Brother Elephants players Wu Pao-hsien (吳保賢), Wang Jing-li (王勁力), Wang Chun-tai (汪竣泰), Liu Yu-chan (柳裕展), Li Hao-ren (李濠任) and Tsao Chin-hui (曹錦輝), along with La New Bears pitcher Chang Chih-chia (張誌家) and Hsieh Chia-hsien (謝佳賢) of the Sinon Bulls, as defendants in a game-fixing case under investigation by Banciao District prosecutors.
The Banciao District Court yesterday ruled against detaining Wu and Wang Jing-li after prosecutors requested their detention.
Cheng Hsin-hung (鄭鑫宏), a spokesperson for the district prosecutors’ office, said prosecutors had sought to detain Wu and Wang because they might otherwise collude with witnesses.
However, prosecutors respect the district court’s decision, Cheng said.
Prosecutors said they did not request to detain the other six baseball players because the defendants had cooperated with investigators and agreed to return for questioning whenever necessary — not because prosecutors believed the six were not involved in game-fixing.
Prosecutors said they had telephone records proving that Tsao, Chang and the others were in contact with Tsai Cheng-yi (蔡政宜), the alleged head of a criminal gang nicknamed the “Windshield Wipers,” and his middlemen.
The players allegedly met Tsai or a middleman before throwing a game.
The players have denied fixing games, although Tsao admitted to meeting the Windshield Wipers. Some reports claimed Tsao and other players accepted bribes in the form of drinks with female escorts.
Although the district court released Wu and Wang without bail, the eight defendants are prohibited from leaving the country to ensure they do not flee the investigation and legal proceedings.
Prosecutors yesterday questioned four more baseball players, including Elephants catcher Kuo Yi-feng (郭一峰).
They are planning to question more people as they continue their probe into the case.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DPA
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS