The Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office on Tuesday charged Chiayi City Councilor Hung Yu-jen (洪有仁) with illegal gambling, human trafficking and corruption.
Hung is accused of forcing Thai transsexual entertainers to provide sexual services at his nightclub after hiring them to perform dance shows.
Hung, an independent, and his associates have been investigated amid allegations of providing sexual services, operating an illegal casino and using fake names to collect extra fees and subsidies for his council office.
Hung allegedly colluded last year with a labor broker, surnamed Feng (馮), to hire five Thai transsexual entertainers.
When the Thais arrived, they were confined and their movements controlled by guards, police said.
“Hung and his associates housed the Thai entertainers at two residences, and had them watched to stop them from running away. Threats of physical violence were used to force the entertainers to provide sexual services to male customers. They were not able to ask for help because of the language barrier and did not understand Taiwan’s laws and had no friends,” police said.
Vice squad officers in February and October last year raided Hung’s nightclub after tip-offs, and found the Thai entertainers engaging in sexual services, contrary to their employment contracts for performing in variety music and dance shows.
Hung’s nightclub made about NT$21.6 million (US$702,096) last year, police said, adding that the Thais were paid, but each had to “service’ at least 15 customers each month and would be fined NT$70,000 if they refused a customer.
One entertainer told investigators that Hung told him perform oral sex service for a client for NT$500.
“Hung had a very good relationship with the local police, so we were afraid of him and did not dare to report our situation to the police,” one of the Thais said.
Hung was elected to the Chiayi City Council in 2014 for a fourth term.
Hung is reportedly well-known in organized crime circles, going by the nickname “Tiger-Nose Boss.”
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai