Banciao prosecutors said on Friday that they recently cracked a sex ring, during the investigation of which they were surprised to find New Taipei City Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Councilor Chou Sheng-kao (周勝考) as the male lead in a sex video discovered on the notebook computer of 19-year-old Chang Ya-ching (張雅晴).
According to the prosecutors, Chou was one of Chang’s regular clients and the prostitution ring decided to blackmail him after finding out he was a New Taipei City councilor.
On Friday, prosecutors indicted Chen Mei-hua (陳美樺), 34, her boyfriend Lee Jui-kai (李瑞鎧), 28, and Yan Tzu-yu (顏慈鈺), 24, for running the sex ring and indicted Chen, Lee and Chang on a charge of blackmailing Chou.
Chang was charged with secretly filming Chou when the two were intimate and then allowing Chen, Lee and Chang to use the video to blackmail him.
Prosecutors said that the trio demanded Chou pay them NT$2 million (US$69,500) in exchange for the video, but after paying NT$300,000, all he received was a CD copy of the video.
Yan was a former prostitute who set up her own sex business with Chen and Lee. Chou visited Yan several times and later Chen and Yan introduced Chang to Chou, prosecutors said.
On Sept. 16 last year, Chou and Chang met outside an MRT station in Banciao District and Chou took Chang to a motel in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和), prosecutors said.
Chang placed a small video recorder in her bag and made a hole in the material through which she was able to secretly film her assignation with Chou, the prosecutors said, adding that she placed the bag on a shelf by the bed before the two had sex.
Chou told reporters he did not solicit prostitutes for sex, saying only that he had helped investigators in their probe of the prostitution ring in his capacity as a witness.
Chou, who was KMT caucus whip in the New Taipei City Council, yesterday issued a statement announcing his resignation from that position. Chou, who divorced in 2008, also apologized to his supporters for being involved in a “news event” that fostered such a negative public image.
Additional reporting by Staff Writer
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