Five former and incumbent sports association executives have pleaded guilty to illegally gathering and exchanging personal data for the election of board directors and supervisors, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday, adding that each of them has been sentenced to one year deferred prosecution and a fine of NT$300,000 to NT$750,000.
The Sports Administration last year set up a Web site where people could apply for membership to different sports associations, with members granted the right to vote for board directors and supervisors, prosecutors said.
The agency built the Web site in response to an amendment to the National Sports Act (國民體育法) that required all sports associations to accept all members of the public.
However, prosecutors found that former Chinese Taipei Baseball Association chairman Chen Tai-cheng (陳太正), Chinese Taipei Badminton Association secretary-general Lee Yu-long (李侑龍), Chinese Taipei Tennis Association secretary-general Liu Chung-hsing (劉中興) and former Chinese Taipei Swimming Association secretary-general Hsu Tung-hsiung (許東雄) wanted to control the board elections.
Lee, Liu and Hsu each gathered personal data of non-members and gave them to Chen Tai-cheng, prosecutors said, adding that the information was entered into the agency’s Web site to inflate the number of members.
Chinese Taipei Tennis Association board member Chao An-hua (趙安華), who intended to run for a position on the association’s board, gathered more than 4,000 people’s personal data and entered them on the agency’s Web site, prosecutors said.
After Chao got upset that Liu was able to gather 7,923 people’s personal data, he accused the Sports Administration of negligence, saying it let the association exploit the system, they said.
He then took the personal data of 3,435 of the people listed by Liu and entered them as members of the boxing, bowling, soft tennis, weightlifting and five other sports associations.
The Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau and Criminal Investigation Bureau started an investigation after the Sports Administration and New Power Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) reported their suspicions to the police.
People only become members of the Sports Administration, and have the right to vote and be elected after they pay a membership fee, so Chen Tai-cheng, Lee, Liu and Hsu’s actions did not substantially disrupt the elections of their associations, prosecutor said.
The five were given deferred prosecution because they pleaded guilty.
Liu and Chao each have to pay a fine of NT$300,000. Chen Tai-cheng and Lee were each fined NT$550,000. Hsu was fined NT$750,000.
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