A Taipei hospital and travel agencies have been implicated in an international prostitution investigation, allegedly bringing Chinese women to Taiwan to work in the illegal sex trade, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Evidence indicated that top executives at Chung Shan Hospital have taken advantage of a “medical tourism” program, under which foreigners obtain medical visas to enter Taiwan, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Evidence shows that from 2016 to 2019, hospital executives issued documents to help facilitate the entry of more than 10,000 Chinese, purportedly for medical treatment, health exams, cosmetic surgery or other procedures at hospitals and medical institutions in Taiwan, prosecutors said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
However, some who entered on a medical visa have been found working in the sex trade, with their work linked to an international prostitution ring, prosecutors said.
After searches earlier on Thursday, prosecutors questioned former Chung Shan Hospital director Lee Wei-zheng (李偉政), deputy director Li Shi-ming (李世明) and planning section secretary Shen Shu-chen (沈淑珍).
Also summoned for questioning were Pao Sheng Ta Travel Service Co owner Tsai Chang-jung (蔡長榮) and Taiwan Uplift Travel Service Co’s Hsu Juo-ting (徐若婷).
Li and Lee were released yesterday on NT$2 million (US$71,731) bail each, Shen posted bail of NT$100,000, and Tsai and Hsu were released on NT$300,000 bail each.
Prosecutors said the five face forgery charges in breach of the Criminal Code and contravention of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) related to bringing Chinese into Taiwan.
Some of the Chinese women paid NT$200,000 to NT$300,000 in “introduction fees” and “commission” to obtain a medical visa to travel to Taiwan — with the visas usually valid for two weeks, prosecutors said.
However, they earned money through prostitution, they said, adding that the women would reapply for the visas when they expired.
Shen colluded with travel agencies to provide documentation, which required the approval of the hospital’s director and deputy director, prosecutors said.
Evidence shows that many of the Chinese women received a physical examination at the hospital — a procedure that usually costs NT$2,000 — but provided receipts showing that they paid more than NT$15,000, prosecutors said.
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