Three players confess

With qualms of conscience, Elephants pitchers Li Hao-jen and Wu Bao-hsien, as well as outfielder Chu Hung-shen, admitted to prosecutors their roles in helping fix some baseball games.

Prosecutors in Banqiao of Taipei County said the three expressed deep regrets and offered apologies to their team, Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) and all of the baseball fans on the island.

Li, Wu, and Chu also surrendered their illegal gains of NT$200,000, NT$100,000 and NT$50,000 to the prosecutors' office.

The prosecutors said the trio's candid admission of the wrongdoing and submission of the under-table payment could help with their seeking more lenient treatment in prosecution and subsequent court trial.

They encouraged other players involved in the fifth massive scam of fixing games in the CPBL history to follow the three's example to rebuild their careers instead of adamantly denying their lawbreaking offenses.

The admission of the three came after they were summoned for additional questioning in the afternoon.

The management of the Brother Hotel Elephants issued a statement expelling Li, Wu, Chu and another player, pitcher Li Hao-jen, who already admitted earlier participating in the sports scam, from the team, effective immediately.

General manager Hung Rei-ho of the Elephants confirmed that the team will not renew its contract with Tsao Chin-hui -- the first Taiwanese pitcher to ever compete in the U.S. Major Leagues -- because of his meetings and spending time for meals and recreation with the bookie of the underground gambling ring.

Hung also expressed deep regrets after learning that the Elephants head coach from Japan, who was earlier credited with the team's finishing the second place in the season, had met with Chuang Hung-liang, an intermediary between the gambling syndicate and players.

Whether the coach can have his contract renewed is now in the hands of the team owner.

The fate of the Brother Elephants, presently Taiwan's most popular professional baseball team, will become clear next week, after 12 of its players have been implicated in the latest game-fixing scandal.

Concerned about the future of the Brother Elephants in the wake of the game-fixing scam, Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling met with the team's general manager Hung.

“Despite the scandal, I remain confident in the strength of the Brother Elephants, and I encouraged Hung to continue operating the team,” Tai said of her meeting with Hung.

Noting that the team has been in operation for 25 years and has the largest number of fans of any of the professional league's four franchises, Tai said her council does not want to see the Elephants disbanded.

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