Prosecutors yesterday questioned the alleged accountant of the “Windshield Wipers” gang that is suspected of bribing professional baseball players in a game-fixing scandal.
The “accountant,” Huang Jen-yi (黃仁義), was questioned by prosecutors yesterday about the gang’s relations with professional baseball players.
Prosecutors said they believe questioning Huang and other alleged gang members will help them discover which players were approached to become involved in the game-fixing, as well as how much they were paid and whether compensation took the form of money, gifts or drinking parties with female escorts.
The head of the “Windshield Wipers,” Tsai Cheng-yi (蔡政宜), and his associates are suspected of establishing a gambling ring that placed bets on professional baseball games and recruited professional players to play poorly to manipulate the outcome of games.
Aside from Huang, prosecutors yesterday questioned former La New Bears pitcher Huang Chun-chung (黃俊中). He has been detained and listed as a defendant in the case on suspicion he acted as a middleman between the gang and baseball players.
Since the investigation began, prosecutors have listed 12 members of the Brother Elephants as defendants on suspicion of game-fixing, including Elephants coach Shim Nakagomi, who was released on bail of NT$80,000 on Tuesday.
He had been apprehended at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday as he prepared to take a flight back to his native Japan.
This is the fifth time in 20 years that professional baseball players in Taiwan have been investigated for throwing games. The latest probe began last week after the Elephants lost 5-2 to the Uni-President Lions in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) championship.
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