The Cabinet yesterday approved a draft amendment of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪條例) to aggravate penalties for criminals involved in luring people into extraterritorial organized crime, after a number of Cambodia-based scam operations were found to have Taiwanese associates.
Currently, according to the Act, the recruitment of people to organized crime would be punished by a jail sentence of between six months and five years and a fine of up to NT$10 million, regardless of whether the crimes take place in Taiwan or overseas.
Under the proposed amendment, any offense related to recruiting Taiwanese to join a criminal organization outside the territory of the Republic of China would result in a prison sentence of between one and seven years, and a fine of up to NT$20 million (US$653,648), according to the Cabinet.
Photo: Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
If offenders target victims who are under 18, the punishment will be increased by up to half.
Meanwhile, the amendment added a clause stating that the property of any group which supports a criminal organization such as providing funding or recruitment shall be confiscated after deducting any amount belonging to victims.
The amendment, drafted by the Ministry of Justice, will be referred by the Cabinet to the Legislature for deliberation.
Should the amendment pass the Legislature, people convicted for involvement in trafficking Taiwanese to Cambodia to work for criminal organizations engaged in activities such as telecom fraud, sexual exploitation and organ removal, shall be subject to the more severe punishment, the ministry said in a statement.
As of Dec. 12, the government has assisted in the return of 403 Taiwanese, many of whom were allegedly lured to Cambodia with offers of fake lucrative jobs and then forced to work for criminal organizations, but around 300 people are believed to still be held in the country against their will, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) news release.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be