Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) yesterday awarded five prosecutors with the Judiciary Discerning Eyesight Award for their diligent investigation of criminal cases, including international probes.
At the event marking Judicial Day, Tsai praised the prosecutors for their efforts to break up crime rings, restore justice and safeguard society.
Taichung prosecutor Chang Shih-chia (張時嘉) received the award for his work on an international telecom scam case in 2020, which he helped solve using big data analytics.
Photo: CNA
Taiwanese suspects allegedly set up a ring in Montenegro, from where they defrauded more than 2,000 people, mostly Chinese, of a total of US$20.8 million, case filings showed.
Chang, along with other judicial officers from Taiwan, traveled to the Balkan country to raid the ring’s premises and arrest 92 suspects, all of whom were Taiwanese.
“We had with us Criminal Investigation Bureau officers, and with the help of local authorities, we brought the 92 suspects back to Taiwan to charge them,” Chang said.
However, he revealed that the trip came at an inconvenient time for him, as his wife was pregnant.
“She was quite worried about me,” he said, adding that COVID-19 was spreading in Europe at the time, while there were few cases in Taiwan.
“My pregnant wife had to take care of the family,” he said, adding that it was important that he went, because working on such a case usually takes several years.
It is an arduous process, he added.
After making the arrests, his team could return some of the defrauded money to China and apprehended leading members of the ring based in Taiwan, he said.
Taichung prosecutor Chan Yi-chang (詹益昌) received the award for helping coast guard officials in 2019 apprehend crew members of a Chinese vessel engaging in sand dredging in Taiwan’s territorial waters off Penghu County.
The crew members, including two captains, were convicted a year later for causing extensive damage to a coral reef and the marine ecology off the outlying island county. They were sentenced to months-long prison terms, and the two confiscated vessels were auctioned off for a total of NT$73 million (US$2.4 million at the current exchange rate). The money was partly used to fund coral protection efforts.
Taipei prosecutor Kuo Keng-cheng (郭耿誠) received the award for an investigation into vote-buying allegations in New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) in 2018, which resulted in the biggest bust of a vote-buying ring in an indigenous electoral district, the seizure of NT$1.95 million — the largest amount ever seized in such an operation — and the conviction of nine people.
New Taipei City prosecutor Chen Shih-shih (陳詩詩) received the prize for her investigation of a shooting involving celebrity gym-owner Holger Chen (陳之漢) in 2020. Her probe led to alleged Bamboo Union members being sentenced to four-month prison terms.
Chiayi prosecutor Chen Ching-hui (陳靜慧) was awarded for in 2019 investigating an underground gambling ring that is accused of laundering more than NT$8 billion. The probe led to charges against more than 100 people.
“This award recognizes these hardworking prosecutors and their outstanding performance. The ceremony also seeks to inform the public about the difficult process of investigating such crimes, the requirements of such a process and the efforts that are made to boost public safety,” Tsai said, adding that family members of the award recipients attended the ceremony.
“Prosecutors need strong family support to achieve success,” he added.
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