Fixed Ballgames Lead To Fines, Prison Terms

Eighteen players and a coach were jailed Wednesday for up to 2 years for throwing games in a scandal that has shaken professional baseball in Taiwan.

Two bookmakers were jailed for five years for handling bets and pressuring players to fix games, and four other players drew suspended sentences.

Prison terms ranged from 8 months to the 30 months imposed on pitchers Kuo Chien-chen and Chou Kun-yuan because they threw more games and received more payoffs from gamblers, Judge Lee Ying-hao said.

Kuo was fined $320,000 for soliciting the bribes, and each bookie was fined $1 million.

The judge did not say how big the payoffs were, but a member of a gambling syndicate had been accused of giving $360,000 to three Eagles players.

Underworld figures were said to have provided entertainment and expense-paid vacations for players, coaches and umpires.

The scandal dashed the Eagles’ hopes of winning a title. It also led to the formation of a rival four-team league promising corruption-free baseball.