Taipei City police officers have been manipulating the law and demanding payoffs from brothels and their patrons in the aftermath of vice raids, Taipei City councilors alleged yesterday.
New Party city councilors Lee Hsin (
Playing a tape recording of a conversation between a brothel patron and himself, Lee Hsin said that police offered to give the suspect a lighter criminal charge if he admitted to engaging in sex with the prostitute. The police then used the confession to put pressure on the brothel's operator.
The man, who spoke to Lee two days ago on condition of anonymity, was caught having sex with a call girl at a motel during a police raid on the night of Feb. 1.
"They told me that if I didn't want my family to know about it, I'd better admit that I had paid to have sex with her," the patron said. "If I cooperated, they would handle the case as an obscene act, which they said was not a big deal, although I would have to pay NT$6,000 as required by the law and tell them what I knew about the call service."
According to the Social Order Maintenance Law (
The employer or agent of the prostitute is also subject to having their water and electricity supplies at the `venue of operations' cut.
But if the two parties are caught engaging in obscene acts, each is subject to a NT$6,000 fine and are not submitted to the prosecutors.
"Most patrons prefer to pay the NT$6,000 rather than give testimony in court because they're either worried about their own reputation or afraid that their spouse might file a lawsuit," Lee said.
After the police obtained the information from the patron, Lee said, they then confronted the employer of the prostitute and demanded a certain amount of money be paid for the return of the prostitutes or face the termination of their water and electricity supplies, Lee said.
"My own investigation shows that it costs about NT$50,000 to get back a local prostitute and NT$80,000 for a foreign one," he said.
"Most employers prefer to pay the money because they do not want to see the operation of their business terminated," he said.
Chen Yi-feng (
"Prosecutors currently are investigating a similar case. The headquarters will not side with anyone who is in the wrong and will do everything in accordance with the law," he said.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS