Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan County Council speaker Wu Chien-bao (吳健保) yesterday started a two-year jail term for fixing professional baseball games.
The Tainan District Prosecutors Office said Wu, who reported to prosecutors yesterday morning, applied for a delay in the carrying out of his sentence, but prosecutors rejected the request and Wu was taken directly to the Tainan Prison.
The final ruling said that beginning in 2005, Wu ran an illegal gambling business that took bets on professional baseball games.
The ruling added that Wu and three La New Bears players fixed a game when the team played the Chinatrust Whales in Kaohsiung on April 28, 2007, making illegal profits of NT$8,650,000 (US$286,000) from the outcome of the game.
At the time, Wu was serving as an independent Greater Tainan councilor, but was dismissed after being found guilty in the final verdict.
In related news, the Supreme Court yesterday sentenced former prosecutor Wu Chieh-jen (吳傑人) to seven years and six months in prison on counts of corruption, rape, lewd acts and infringement of freedom of movement.
The sentence was a final verdict.
Wu Chieh-jen, who worked at the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, was found guilty of committing crimes against more than 10 women who were targets of his investigations from 1999 and 2006, the Supreme Court said.
Wu Chieh-jen used his influence as a prosecutor to coerce the women to have sex with him, the ruling said.
Several of the victims were mentally and emotionally traumatized as a result of his actions, the ruling said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm