The legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday approved the first reading of amendments that would increase penalties for attempts to recruit people to commit crimes abroad, after a scheme that lured jobseekers to Cambodia received significant media coverage last year.
The proposed changes of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防治條例), drafted by the Executive Yuan, stipulate fines of up to NT$20 million (US$651,254) and prison terms of up to seven years, while stipulating higher penalties when the people targeted are underage.
The amendments were drafted after investigators found that a trafficking ring had lured Taiwanese to Cambodia by promising them high-paying jobs, but forced them to participate in telecommunications fraud, while subjecting them to sexual exploitation. Instances of organ harvesting were also reported.
Photo: CNA
The amendments would also bar people convicted of organized crime charges from running for public office.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that people who are convicted, but are not handed a punishment or receive a delayed sentence, would also be barred from running in elections.
The amendments stipulate higher penalties for public servants found guilty of involvement in organized crime, including financing and recruitment for crime rings.
Under the amendments, public servants found guilty of such offenses might have their assets confiscated and illicit profits seized
Amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防治法) were also discussed yesterday, but failed to gain support. Debate on the proposal is to continue.
One proposal stipulates prison terms of up to five years and fines of up to NT$4 million for public servants who use their office as a front for collecting information on people’s accounts with financial institutions, cryptocurrency platforms or third-party payment platforms.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) objected to the proposal, saying that the fines should be up to NT$100 million.
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) offered to raise the maximum fine to NT$50 million, but remove a clause stipulating separate fines “if three people or more have jointly committed the crime.”
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS