Bookie Chen Ying-chu (陳盈助) was released on bail yesterday after authorities earlier this week conducted searches and shut down illegal betting sites.
Chen posted bail of NT$150 million (US$5.28 million) with restrictions placed on his movement.
About 60 people were questioned on Tuesday amid a probe into alleged illegal online betting and other offenses linked to gambling platforms.
Photo: Ting Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Chiayi County Chief Prosecutor Tsai Ying-chu (蔡英俊) said that his office coordinated with Kaohsiung prosecutors, and more than 600 police officers and judicial investigators to conduct searches at the offices of Chen’s Ying Sheng International Co (營勝國際) and other locations mainly in Chiayi City, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Taipei.
Chen and other suspects face charges of illegal gambling linked to the betting sites and possibly money laundering, Tsai said.
Authorities seized computers, mobile phones, bank account records, ledgers and other documents, as well as about NT$70 million in cash, Tsai said.
Kaohsiung prosecutors said that searches were carried out at an office building in the city on Tuesday evening that is believed to be the headquarters from which the gambling sites were run.
Networking systems, and 10 computers with betting and gaming software were seized, while more than 30 people — allegedly programmers and computer engineers working for Chen — were detained, Kaohsiung prosecutors said.
Ying Sheng has run several gambling sites for many years, offering sports betting, lotteries and other games.
Investigators have found that Chen has established legitimate casino and other gambling operations in Macau and the Philippines, Tsai said.
However, his overseas businesses have been affected amid the COVID-19 pandemic and face closure, Tsai said, adding that most of his Taiwanese staff have returned.
Young people who worked at his overseas operations helped to expand the online betting business in Taiwan after their return, Tsai said.
They set up new sites to attract Taiwanese, which prompted authorities to last year begin surveillance of them, he said.
Chen was indicted in 1999 over an alleged illegal sports betting operation involving Taiwanese baseball and in 2006 was embroiled in a NT$8.6 billion international money laundering case, but was acquitted in both cases due to insufficient evidence.
In the past few years, Chen launched a charity organization for community welfare work.
MAKING A MOVE: Starting on Monday, short-term business travelers can apply for shorter quarantine periods, while transits of up to eight hours would be allowed The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced an easing of restrictions that would from Monday next week allow foreigners to visit or make a transit flight in Taiwan. A policy allowing short-term business travelers from countries with low or medium risks of COVID-19 infections to apply for shorter quarantine periods is also to resume that day. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that while the autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program is to be extended after the end of this month, special conditions for foreign nationals to enter Taiwan would be restored from Monday. Foreign nationals
‘UNFRIENDLY’: COA Minister Chen Chi-chung said that Beijing probably imposed the sanction because the pineapple production season is about to start in Taiwan More than 99 percent of pineapples sold to China passed inspections, the government said yesterday, after China earlier in the day abruptly suspended imports of pineapples from the nation, which Taipei called an “unfriendly” move. From Monday, China is to stop importing pineapples from Taiwan, the Chinese General Administration of Customs said. The regulation is a normal measure for ensuring biosafety, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said in a news release later yesterday. Since last year, Chinese customs officials have repeatedly seized pineapples imported from Taiwan that carried “perilous organisms,” Ma said. Were the organisms to spread in China, they would
CONTINUED VIGILANCE: People would still be required to wear masks at eight types of public spaces and border controls would continue, Chen Shih-chung told reporters The government’s autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program is to continue beyond Sunday, but eating and drinking on high-speed trains would be allowed from Monday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that while there were no new confirmed cases in Taiwan yesterday, the global COVID-19 situation remains serious, so the autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program would be extended beyond its Sunday deadline. “Border control measures, including requiring a negative polymerase chain reaction test result obtained within three days of boarding a plane to Taiwan, and undergoing quarantine in a
‘ONE PERSON PER UNIT’: People undergoing home isolation cannot stay in a housing unit in which non-isolated people live, unless they have special approval Starting tomorrow, people under home isolation would be required to follow the “one person per housing unit” rule if in private housing, or stay at a quarantine hotel or centralized quarantine facility, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the rules require people under home quarantine to be quarantined with one person per housing unit, or at a quarantine hotel or centralized quarantine facility. “Starting on March 1, individuals under home isolation will also be subject to the ‘one person per housing unit’ rule,” he said. “We
RSS