Banciao District prosecutors yesterday questioned former Brother Elephants pitcher Chuang Yu-lin (莊侑霖), saying that he plays a key role in the investigation into the professional baseball league game-fixing case.
Chuang allegedly bribed and threatened players to perform in such a way that their team would win or lose a game by a specific margin.
Aside from his alleged involvement in the game-fixing case, it has also been rumored that Chuang, under suspicion of being involved in gambling, drug dealing and other misdemeanors, may offer prosecutors evidence that would further incriminate the other players under investigation.
Banciao District prosecutors said a previous search of Chuang’s residence in Sanchong (三重) produced 20,000 MDMA pills (known as “head-shaking pills” in Chinese, “ecstasy” in English), NT$700,000 in cash and four mobile phones. Prosecutors suspect the cash was funds left over after buying the drugs.
Prosecutors said their questioning was mainly to clarify whether Chuang, using his connections in the country’s professional baseball league teams, acted as an agent for Tsai Cheng-yi (蔡政宜), the alleged head of the “Windshield Wipers” gang.
Prosecutors believe Tsai enticed players to throw games or manipulate the final score in ways to help a bookies syndicate cash in on illicit bets.
Evidence collected by the Taipei branch of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau showed that the players rigged games in a number of ways, including throwing easy pitches for the batters to hit, walking batters, purposely committing errors or deliberately striking out. Once the gambling syndicate run by Tsai cashed in on its bets as a result of the players’ actions, it would then pay off the players through intermediaries, the Investigation Bureau believes.
Tsai and three of his associates were questioned and detained last Tuesday. Former professional baseball league players Chuang Yu-lin (莊侑霖) and Huang Chun-chung (黃俊中) were also questioned and detained on suspicion of acting as middlemen between the gambling ring and the players.
More baseball players and others who are suspected of being involved in the game-fixing ring may be brought in for questioning as prosecutors verify whether different statements corroborated each other, prosecutors said.
If any baseball players are suspected of taking prohibited drugs, prosecutors say they would take urine or hair samples to test for drugs. Prosecutors, however, say they have so far not found any physical evidence that baseball players have been taking prohibited drugs.
This is the fifth time in 20 years that professional baseball players from Taiwan have been investigated for throwing games.
Prosecutors launched their investigation a day after the Elephants lost 5-2 to the Uni-President Lions on Oct. 25 in the Chinese Professional Baseball League Taiwan Series championship decider.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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