Three Kaohsiung police officers were yesterday convicted of taking bribes from illegal electronic gaming operators and were given prison sentences of 12 years or more.
When the investigation began last year, all three officers were suspended before being detained. They were later released on bail.
It was the first ruling on the case by the Kaohsiung District Court and it can be appealed.
Kaohsiung police inspector Tsai Ching-te (蔡景德) received the heaviest punishment of 18 years, 6 months in jail, with the court also imposing an NT$8 million (US$258,732) fine for contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Kaohsiung Renwu District (仁武) Police Precinct second lieutenant Lin Ying-chang (林霙璋) was handed a sentence of 12 years, 2 months.
Kaohsiung Siaogang (小港) Police Precinct traffic division chief Chi Te-ching (齊德清) received a 12-year prison sentence.
The scheme was headed up by a man surnamed Lee (李), an operator of an underground electronic gaming casino in Renwu District, who collected a monthly “public relations fee” from fellow operators of electronic gaming and gambling businesses in Kaohsiung.
Evidence showed that Lee handed the money to a retired deputy chief of a police precinct surnamed Chen (陳), who was connected with many high-ranking police officers in Kaohsiung.
Chen passed the bribes to Tsai, Lin and Chi.
The investigation showed that Tsai received NT$630,000 a month from December 2012 to October 2013, a total of NT$6.93 million.
NT$1.1 million was passed to Chi over 10 months, while Lin received NT$870,000.
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