The Cabinet yesterday passed draft amendments to the Sports Lottery Act (運彩發行條例) to strengthen the issuing agency’s responsibilities and impose heavier penalties on those who take advantage of their position to make illegal gains.
The revisions, which follow allegations of fraud several months ago, will be sent to the legislature for approval.
The raft of revisions will require the issuing agency and other commissioned units to strengthen their internal monitoring mechanisms to ensure the fairness of the operations, Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) said in a regular Cabinet meeting.
The fraud case, exposed in September last year, involved a Taiwan Sport Lottery Corp assistant manager, Lin Hao-chin (林昊縉), who allegedly defrauded the lottery by running a scam that allowed his accomplices to bet on sports events after the results were known.
The Taiwan Sport Lottery is a subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holding Co, which was commissioned by the Sports Affairs Council to operate the lottery.
The proposed amendments include a requirement that the issuing agency and commissioned units must establish an internal monitoring system and report any suspicious cases.
Heavier fines for those caught taking advantage of their positions at the lottery-issuing agency to make illegal profits are also among the revisions.
It is hoped that the changes will help restore public confidence in the sports lottery, Chen said.
Lin was responsible for opening and closing the betting system at Taiwan Sport Lottery, police said.
He was fired on Aug. 23 last year, a few weeks before the scandal broke, and he has been indicted on charges of fraud.
Lin allegedly ran the scam seven times between June and August last year, and he is said to have defrauded the lottery of about NT$3.73 million (US$126,000) during that time, police said.
He cashed in about NT$430,000 of that amount, police said.
After prosecutors began their investigation, Lin surrendered to police.
One of his alleged accomplices, reportedly his girlfriend, also turned herself in.
Executives of Taiwan Sport Lottery and Fubon Financial have apologized for the alleged scam.
Fubon Financial has about two years to go on its six-year contract with the sports council to run the lottery.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
RSS