A Yunlin prosecutor yesterday said he would indict 16 professional baseball players, bookies and gangsters for their involvement in a multi-million dollar baseball game-fixing scandal.
The head of the prosecutor's office said later yesterday, however, that more time was needed to review the case.
Yunlin prosecutor Hsu Wei-yu (徐維嶽) said that he had finished his investigation and prepared charges against 16 defendants that includes five Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) players, nine gangsters involved in bookmaking, one team coach and one team translator on charges of blackmail, fraud and breach of trust.
However, the head of the prosecutors' office Ho Ming-chen (
Ho denied there was any disagreement between himself and Hsu over the case. He said that game-fixing investigations had in the past been difficult to prove in court because it is extremely hard to judge whether a player has been playing badly on purpose. Because of this he needed more time to review the evidence to see if it was sufficient to indict.
Hsu later said he had no comment on Ho's statement.
Hsu said the two key men in the scandal, Macoto Cobras second-division coach Tsai Sheng-fong (蔡生豐) and La New Bears catcher Chen Chao-ying (陳昭穎), were released on Sunday after spending a month in detention after plea-bargaining with prosecutors.
Hsu said the two confessed their involvement in game-fixing and offered more evidence and named more players who allegedly were also involved.
As a result prosecutors have recommended a lighter sentence for the two informants.
Hsu said according to Tsai and Chen's statements, prosecutors would launch a second round of investigations.
Hsu said Lee Chuan-lin (
Hsu also said that Lee had made threats to members of each of the six teams in the CPBL, demanding their cooperation as well as arranging for players to wine and dine in private clubs.
Hsu said pitchers, such as La New Bears starter Tai Long-shui (
Hsu added Chen Chao-ying confessed that he accepted a bribe of up to NT$600,000 on July 14 to instruct the pitcher pairing with him to pitch poorly.
The investigation is a huge blow for the CPBL, which suffered a similar scandal in 1998. Gangsters and gamblers had infiltrated the sport, and the China Times Eagles was disbanded after players were convicted of gambling offenses.
The following year, 18 players, one manager and two bookmakers were convicted and jailed in the case.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
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