Sports advocates and athletes yesterday joined New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) in filing a formal complaint against various sports associations for allegedly engaging in fraud in their membership drive.
Huang, star swimmer Tang Sheng-chieh (唐聖捷) and Lu Chi-hung (呂季鴻), who helped found the sports reform organization Fair Game! Taiwan!, called on the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to launch a probe into sports associations and the Sports Administration.
“There have clearly been many illegal activities going on over the past several weeks,” Huang said. “We suspect that the sports associations are engaged in a massive collusion scheme, involving forgery of documents and setting up of dummy accounts to register large numbers of new members.”
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Huang also asked the Cabinet to establish a task force to investigate allegations of organized fraud by the associations, alleging that government officials in the Sports Administration had abetted the fraudulent activity.
The public fully supports the reforms sought by athletes and are upbeat with the promulgation on Sept. 20 of amendments to the National Sports Act (國民體育法), which pushed for transparency and financial accountability in sports organizations, in addition to requiring them to accept individual memberships and to hold elections for executive positions, Huang said.
“Instead of getting reform, we are getting fraud,” he said. “The promised reform has turned into a huge joke.”
More than 60,000 members of the public in October filed applications to join various sports associations, but the final tally on Wednesday last week was just more than 170,000, Lu said, adding that most came in the final week.
“The total figure and the number of applicants in the final week were similar for the soccer and swimming bodies, because their executives colluded to commit fraud by exchanging and adding large blocks of dummy accounts,” Lu said. “The numbers were manipulated by insiders at these associations.”
“We also received complaints from people who said that they did not apply, but still received a notice to pay membership fees. There were also other irregularities indicating that private information was stolen to register people,” he added.
A judicial probe is needed “because these associations are guilty of stealing people’s identities and forging documents. Some Sports Administration officials knew and abetted the scheme, so they are complicit in these illegal activities,” Lu said.
Huang and Lu said that they had received reports from several people, saying they were sent text messages by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association informing them that the membership fee has increased from NT$1,500 to NT$2,500 and requesting payment.
“However, these people said that they never applied to become members, so it is clear that someone stole their identity to use them as dummy accounts. This is outrageous,” Huang said.
The scheme likely involved exchanging large blocks of new applicants composed mainly of dummy accounts to ensure control over voting in the upcoming elections, Huang said.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS