TAIPEI: Local prosecutors' offices soon will begin "adopting" embattled baseball teams that have been swept up in the latest "game fixing" scandal. The plan was announced yesterday by Tai Hsia-ling, head of the Sports Affairs Council.

Tai said a recent "ministry-level" meeting concluded with a plan for prosecutors' offices to "adopt" all four teams of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). "Although the four teams have not promised to take part in next year's season," Tai told a Legislative Yuan session, the council's "determination to save the pro league remains unchanged."

"However, as baseball is a commercial activity, its fate lies in the hands of enterprises (that run baseball teams). The council will try its best to communicate (so that enterprises will adopt baseball teams,)" she added.

The top sports affairs official said the roots of match-fixing are, among others, the lack of a free agent system and low players' salaries.

According to press reports, the Shihlin district prosecutors' office in Taipei will look after the Brother Elephants team, while other prosecutors' offices will adopt the remaining three teams.

"The adoption is to allow the prosecutors' office to protect players by launching investigations when there are signs of match-fixing and by teaching players to abide by the law," Yen Nai-wei, spokesman for the Shihlin Prosecutors' Office, told reporters.

This "adoption" means only that the prosecutors' offices will form an alliance with the baseball teams by exchanging information with the teams to avoid illegal activities like match fixing, a CPBL press officer clarified.

It does not involve financial sponsorship, he added.

The latest match-fixing scandal erupted last week when the prosecutors' office of Taipei's Panchiao district began to question players from three CPBL teams.

The match-fixing, directed by criminals who run illegal betting, began in May, with bookmakers offering players up to NT$3 million ($90,000) for throwing a game, press reports said.

As of yesterday, 14 players had been named as defendants. Six pleaded guilty to accepting money from gambling rings. Four of those have handed over their ill-gotten gains to prosecutors, the Central News Agency quoted an unnamed prosecutor as saying.

The case has dealt a new blow to Taiwan's national sport, plagued by match-fixing scandals, low stadium attendance and poor performance in international competitions.

Last year, the Media T-Rex team disbanded over match-fixing allegations implicating the team's management and three players.

A 1996 match-fixing scandal led to the dissolving of the China Times Eagles team.

The damage to baseball that has resulted from continued scandals has prompted the government to take steps not only to protect the game but to promote it, in the hopes of re-establishing Taiwan as a global baseball power.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 11/05/2009 page2)