Two former university officials and an ex-Miaoli County official received prison terms and fines for a labor scam that forced Ugandan students to toil in factories instead of studying in Taiwan, the Changhua District Court said on Wednesday.
In 2019, the then-dean of student affairs at Chung Chou University of Science and Technology, surnamed Chai (柴), and the head of the school’s extension education center, surnamed Lan (藍), lured 16 Ugandan nationals into coming to study at the university.
They told the students they would be given hefty scholarships and paid internships in the high-tech industry, during a recruitment event run by a hotelier, surnamed Lin (林), at his hotel in Uganda, the district court said in a press release.
Photo courtesy of the National Immigration Agency via CNA
However, they withheld the fact that the students would have to cover their living costs and that there was no guarantee of finding work.
Upon arriving in Taiwan, the students were told they owed the school money for their expenses and would have to do many hours of labor-intensive factory work to repay their debt.
The work was organized at various factories through a broker surnamed Chen (陳).
The case came to light in January 2022 following media reports.
In a bid to avoid penalties, Chen met with then-deputy head of the Miaoli County Labor and Youth Development Department Tu Jung-hui (涂榮輝), who pressured a staffer, surnamed Liao (廖), not to issue fines and help conceal the repeated contraventions by the labor agency and the factories.
Chai, Lan and Lin were found guilty of running a labor trafficking scheme and of exploitation, the district court ruling handed down on Thursday last week said.
Tu and Liao were convicted of seeking unlawful gains for themselves or others, as stipulated in the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Tu was given a seven-year sentence and a fine of NT$2.4 million (US$73,778), and deprived of his civil rights for five years.
Chai was sentenced to a jail term of five years and six months, and given a fine of NT$500,000 for contravening the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法).
Lan was given a five-year sentence and a fine of NT$700,000, while Lin got two years and 10 months, and a fine of NT$300,000.
Chen was sentenced to two years in prison and given a fine of NT$600,000 for his role in labor exploitation under the Human Trafficking Prevention Act.
As Liao confessed during the investigation, did not profit from his crime and engaged in illegal behavior under pressure, the court exempted him from punishment, the press release said.
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