The Taiwan High Court’s Greater Taichung branch yesterday ordered former La New Bears pitcher Chang Chih-chia (張誌家) to pay his former team NT$6 million (US$191,785) for tarnishing the group’s image because of his involvement in game-fixing.
According to the court’s ruling, when Chang signed with the La New Bears — now the Lamigo Monkeys based in Taoyuan County — on May 1, 2008, his contract included a separate clause on game-rigging and its consequences.
The ruling said Chang met Tsai Cheng-yi (蔡政宜), the head of a gambling group, and accepted the latter’s offer of a NT$1 million bribe for every game he threw.
Chang accepted an advance of NT$2.3 million under the guise of a loan before making good on his part of the deal, the ruling said.
In October 2009, the former Banciao District Prosecutors’ Office — now the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office — summoned Chang for questioning over allegations of match-fixing.
Aware that he might eventually be prosecuted for violation of his contract and ordered to pay damages, Chang started disposing of his assets by transferring a property he owned in Taichung to his former wife.
While the baseball team was asking for a total of NT$15 million in reparation according to the terms of the contract, it wanted Chang to pay the first NT$6 million for contract violation.
Chang’s match-fixing has greatly damaged the image of a professional baseball team, and the team’s demand of NT$6 million for contract violation is not high, the court said.
The ruling is not final and can still be appealed, it said.
In other news, former Brother Elephants pitcher Tsao Chin-hui (曹錦輝) has failed to obtain a position at Australian Major League team the Adelaide Bite.
Tsao announced on Wednesday last week that he had signed a contract with the Australian team. However, the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) sent a letter alerting the Australian Baseball League (ABL) about Tsao’s status.
In 2009, Tsao was accused of accepting “unsuitable benefits,” including sex in exchange for throwing two games. Although he was not indicted, he was removed from the Brother Elephants’ roster and banned by the CPBL.
Australia’s the Advertiser yesterday quoted ABL general manager Ben Foster as saying: “We didn’t feel comfortable proceeding with his registration.”
“It just won’t be happening in the ABL at this point in time,” Foster said.
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