The New Taipei District Prosecutors' Office today urged the owner of the Dr. Shine (光澤) medical aesthetics clinic chain to return to Taiwan from China to face an investigation into a hidden camera scandal, after two executives were detained incommunicado for allegedly destroying evidence.
Prosecutors in a news release said that Dr. Shine owner Wang Chao-huei (王朝輝) traveled to China before the scandal broke and has not yet returned, calling on him to swiftly return to clarify his role in the case.
Following a recent hidden camera scandal involving the Aierli (愛爾麗) clinic chain, a member of the public on Tuesday last week reported finding what appeared to be a disguised camera lens at Dr. Shine’s Zhongshan branch in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋).
Photo: Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times
After police received the report early on Friday, prosecutors directed the New Taipei City Police Department's Women and Children Protection Brigade and local precincts to raid five Dr. Shine branches in the city's Banciao, Sansia (三峽), Sanchong (三重) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts, accompanied by Department of Health inspectors.
During the raids, investigators found traces of removed surveillance cameras at the Zhongshan, Guancian and Sanchong branches, prosecutors said.
Police traced the removal to a man surnamed Chen (陳), the group's operations director and manager of the Zhongshan branch, and a man surnamed Tang (唐), head of the information technology department, they said.
After questioning, prosecutors said they suspected Chen and Tang of offenses including secretly recording sexual images and private body parts without consent, and attempting to produce sexual images of minors.
The New Taipei District Court on Saturday approved a request to detain the two men incommunicado due to the risk of flight and collusion with accomplices or witnesses.
Five other workers involved in the case were released on bail of NT$500,000 each after questioning.
Prosecutors urged potential victims contacted by the police to cooperate in confirming their identities and to consider pressing charges.
People who suspect they were filmed can also contact the police to check if they appear in the retained footage, they added.
Meanwhile, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office today said it has seized evidence and questioned witnesses in an investigation into suspected hidden cameras at a Dr. Shine branch in the city's Sanmin District (三民).
The task force seized computer hosts, hard drives and other evidence during the raid conducted on Friday last week, it said.
Anyone who visited or received treatment at the Sanmin clinic between Jan. 1 and Friday last week is urged to contact a dedicated hotline established by the Kaohsiung Department of Health to seek legal assistance and counseling, prosecutors said.
The hotline can be reached at (07) 713-4000, extensions 5801, 5802 and 5803.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS