Police head on bail for alleged gambling cover-up

Another two police officers, namely Hsinsheng Precinct chief Yao Ching-lin and the precinct’s general affairs director Chen Hsi-ching, were detained after questioning.

The gambling den’s major shareholder Chi Ying-hsiang and accounting staff Kuo Yu-ching, as well as seven other working staffers were taken into custody after being interrogated.

Prosecutors and investigators raided a gambling house in a high-rise building near a bustling department store in Yungho, Taipei County, and searched the offices of Tsai Jung-yuan and Yao Ching-lin.

Initial investigations found that the gambling den has been in operation since 2004, and has been allegedly covered up by Tsai and Yao ever since.

It was also alleged that the Yungho Police Precinct received a total of NT$3.51 million in monthly “protection service” reward, and that as the precinct chief, Tsai himself got an extra reward of NT$150,000 for every 10 days.

In response, Premier Sun Tseng-chang said that once there is concrete evidence proving the irregularities committed by Tsai and all the other police officers in the Yungho Police Precinct, then their jobs will be revoked immediately.

In a bid to show the government’s determination to secure clean ethics in the police force, Interior Minister Lee Yi-yang also noted yesterday that he has instructed the National Police Agency to deal harshly with those corrupt police officers who have allegedly covered up gambling dens under their jurisdiction.

Lee said the NPA has taken the initiative in the crackdown, showing the government’s determination to ensure clean ethics in the police force. Lee said that the NPA would take the initiative to crack down on similar scandals.

The interior minister stressed that the Yungho case has

“seriously undermined the image of the police” and due to the involvement of police officers in such illicit practices they will be suspended from their duties to begin with.

If evidence of their violations is established, they will be given demerits and relieved of their duties immediately, even before the prosecutors publicly indict them, he added.

He noted that Su put his political life on the line when he vowed to improve law and order in six months shortly after assuming his post in late January.

The premier’s pledge has entered its fifth month and the alleged police corruption has brought disgrace to the police force, he said.

Chou Hsi-wei, Taipei county magistrate, yesterday also instructed the Taipei Police Station to launch a major across-the-board crackdown on gambling, sex trade, drug trafficking, violence cases in the county.

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