Police raids in several cities have closed down a major international gambling syndicate, the largest-known underground bank for remittances between Taiwan and China, and the focus of an ongoing investigation into wagers on the Jan. 11 presidential election.
Investigators said that they on Wednesday detained the suspected backer and proprietor of the syndicate, a 50-year-old man surnamed Hsiao (蕭), who has extensive business and real-estate holdings in Chiayi County and central Taiwan, along with Hsiao’s suspected business partner, a man surnamed Lai (賴), who is in his 40s.
Hsiao, who remains in custody, was subpoenaed along with more than 100 people, including syndicate members, witnesses and regular betting customers, police said, adding that Lai fled to the Philippines, where the syndicate had also established a betting office.
Photo courtesy of the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office via CNA
The Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office, which is coordinating the probe, conducted the raids, gathering evidence and serving subpoenas, with law enforcement units in 72 localities — including Taipei, Chiayi, Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung.
The case is related to another Chiayi-based underground bank, led by a man surnamed Wu (吳), which in the year prior to an August raid conducted NT$8 billion (US$264.9 million) in money transfers and remittances between Taiwan and China, Chiayi head prosecutor Tsai Ying-chun (蔡英俊) said.
Hsiao was allegedly the “big boss” of Wu’s operation, Tsai said, adding that Hsiao’s syndicate and an affiliated underground bank transferred NT$13.9 billion, mostly from China to Taiwan.
As of yesterday, Chiayi prosecutors had listed Hsiao, Lai and 20 other people as suspects who could be charged with breaches of the Banking Act (銀行法) and the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), as well as illegal gambling offenses under the Criminal Code.
The probe is shifting its focus to Hsiao’s China money connection and an election gambling pool that allegedly provides financial and political support from China for Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, Tsai said.
According to a man surnamed Shih (施), who said that he bet on the outcome of the presidential election, the gambling pools favor President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) with a “point spread” — meaning she would lead by that number of votes — of more than 700,000, and up to 1 million in some pools.
However, the house can offer an unreasonably high return to players limiting their wager to Han beating the spread, Shih said, adding that this encourages people to persuade their family and friends to vote for Han so that he hopefully beats the spread, wins the election and makes them rich.
This was allegedly how gambling pools backed by Chinese money helped Han beat former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) in last year’s Kaohsiung mayoral election, as city residents bet NT$1,000 on Han’s victory at even odds and were offered 10 times that in winnings, Shih said.
Wednesday’s raids seized 67 desktop and notebook computers, about 200 cellphones and more than 200 USB drives, as well as NT$5.45 million of local currency and NT$960,000 of foreign currency, six luxury vehicles and 16 diamonds — with the largest one having an estimated value of NT$6 million.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)