A surgeon and four others were indicted yesterday in Changhua County for allegedly facilitating illegal organ transplants in China.
In a news release, the Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office said that Chen Yao-li (陳堯俐), a transplant specialist based in Changhua, orchestrated a criminal group that profited from sending 10 Taiwanese to China to undergo organ transplant surgery from 2016 to 2019.
According to the Human Organ Transplant Act (人體器官移植條例), organ transplants may only be provided or acquired free of charge, and “persons who broker organ transplants or the provision and acquisition of organs” may be subject to imprisonment of one to five years for each offense.
Photo: Taipei Times
Prosecutors said that the group led by Chen allegedly charged people NT$5 million to NT$7.5 million (US$153,917 to US$230,876) for liver transplants and NT$3 million to NT$3.5 million for kidney transplants that were conducted in China’s Shandong and Hunan provinces.
Chen made illegal gains totaling NT$14.82 million through facilitating organ transplants, prosecutors said.
Chen identified people in need of transplants during his medical duties, with the Changhua-based surgeon’s alleged accomplices — identified by their surnames, Huang (黃), Yang (楊), Lin (林) and Hung (洪) — handling communications and payments.
Chen also allegedly instructed a nurse, surnamed Hsieh (謝), to travel to China to administer post-surgery care for NT$200,000 per person, prosecutors said.
Chen personally assisted in conducting the surgeries in China’s Qingdao and Changsha, prosecutors said.
The prosecutors said that they began investigating Chen after a tip-off in March 2022.
They are seeking a six-year sentence for Chen and three-year sentences for Huang, Yang, Lin and Hung.
The prosecutors said they aim to confiscate the group’s illegal gains that allegedly amount to NT$20.37 million.
Hsieh faces a deferred prosecution but must return NT$1.1 million in illegal gains as part of the nurse’s settlement agreement.
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