Taipei: The Taipei District Prosecutors Office has indicted a retired police detective and a suspended police officer for allegedly leaking personal data to members of a crime syndicate in exchange for more than NT$7 million (US$218,000).

According to Focus Taiwan, the indictment identified Cheng, a detective who served at the Taipei Police Department's Wanhua Precinct from March 2018 to March 2025 before retiring in May, and Liu, an officer currently suspended from his position at the Nangang police precinct. Prosecutors revealed that Cheng was introduced to an underground money lender, surnamed Chang, in 2018. At Chang's request, Cheng attempted to obtain communication records of individuals for NT$8,000 per phone number. Lacking the necessary access privileges, Cheng enlisted Liu's help to retrieve the records.

Liu managed to obtain hundreds of call records, which he then passed to Cheng. Cheng subsequently uploaded these records to an email account and used a code word to notify an individual surnamed Shih. The files were downloaded and saved to a USB drive, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors allege that Chang later paid Cheng NT$4.14 million in cash for his efforts, either directly or by leaving the money in a post office box. Cheng kept NT$1.55 million and gave the remaining NT$2.59 million to Liu. Additionally, Cheng received a similar request from another money lender, surnamed Chen, and in exchange for providing information, Cheng received NT$1.14 million, while Liu gained NT$1.91 million.

The two officers reportedly accrued a combined total of about NT$7.2 million in illicit proceeds and were charged with accepting bribes related to their official duties under the Anti-Corruption Act, along with other offenses under the Personal Data Protection Act.

The three suspects-Chang, Shih, and Chen-have been linked to Kuo Che-min, who operated the now-closed "88 Lounge" private club in Taipei. Kuo was arrested in Thailand in July 2023 and repatriated to Taiwan after being accused by Taipei prosecutors of managing approximately NT$2.7 billion in underground foreign currency transactions. In late May, the Taiwan High Court sentenced Kuo to nine years and eight months in prison, a ruling currently under appeal by prosecutors to the Supreme Court.