Two players kicked out by Bears; 3 more under probe

The Bears kicked out Tsai Chung-you and Tsai Ying-feng after they confessed to having played a role as brokers for a gambling ring to recruit teammates to join the scam. They were named by prosecutors as defendants in the case and agreed to surrender illegal gains amounting to around NT$1 million. Both Tsais were released on a bail of NT$80,000 each on an agreement to respond to summons from agents of the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau (MJIB) and prosecutors in Banqiao of Taipei County.

The Bears issued a statement saying the team had to fire the two players in order to uphold high moral standards for fair play. The team warned that it will take the same action against any other players or officials of the team if they are found to have participated in the scheme.

But trouble for the team is still far from over. Prosecutors yesterday summoned three additional Bears players — pitcher Hsu Wen-hsiung and outfielders Huang Hsiao-wei and Chiang Chih-tsung — as defendants for playing fake games for money.

Before the case involving the Bears, prosecutors have so far named a total of 20 players in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) as defendants in the latest scam of playing false baseball games after a formal probe was launched Oct. 26. They included 13 players of the Brother Hotel Elephants and three of the Sinon Bulls.

Sources said that the latest round of crackdowns on staging false baseball games is unlikely to be wrapped up soon as some of the defendants have gradually revealed more evidence concerning the scam that have lasted for at least two years.

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