Authorities in Changhua County yesterday arrested four people accused of running an underground election gambling ring and confiscating NT$1.19 million (US$38,137).
After receiving a tip-off, county prosecutors coordinated with police to surveil and raid three locations, arresting the primary suspects at their residences, Changhua County Deputy Chief Prosecutor Huang Shu-yuan (黃淑媛) said.
The suspects were offering odds and payouts for wagers on votes for presidential candidates, updating the odds based on the latest election news, Huang said.
Photo: Chen Kuan-bei, Taipei Times
“Their actions are quite damaging, affecting impartiality for holding a fair election,” she said.
The suspects face gambling charges under the Criminal Code and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法).
The suspects are a 62-year-old man surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be the leader of the operation, along with a man surnamed Peng (彭), 70, and two women, surnamed Yang (楊), 53, and Chen (陳), 45.
After questioning, Huang was released on bail of NT$100,000, while the other suspects were released on NT$30,000 bail.
The Ministry of Justice is providing a reward of NT$1 million for information leading to the arrest of underground betting rings with more than 40 members and with a betting pool of more than NT$1 million, the government announced earlier this month.
Informants could receive an additional NT$100,000 for every 10 percent increase in the number of members involved above 40 capped at NT$500,000.
Those reporting on an election gambling ring involving more than NT$5 million could receive an additional NT$50,000 for every additional NT$5 million in betting funds found, capped at NT$500,000.
People who report interference by foreign forces in the presidential election could receive a reward of up to NT$10 million. Informants would receive an additional NT$1 million for each additional person reported, up to a maximum of NT$20 million.
The Changhua County Prosecutors’ Office said that authorities would protect whistle-blowers’ identities in cases leading to arrests.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS