Taiwan Prosecutors Indict Surgeon for Facilitating Illegal China Organ Transplants.

Taipei: A surgeon and four accomplices were indicted in Taiwan for allegedly facilitating illegal organ transplants conducted in China. In a news release, the Changhua District Prosecutors Office stated that Chen (?), a transplant specialist based in Changhua County, orchestrated a criminal ring that profited from sending 10 Taiwanese patients to China for organ transplant surgery between 2016 and 2019. According to Focus Taiwan, Taiwan's Human Organ Transplant Act mandates that organ transplants may only be provided or acquired free of charge. Violators, particularly those who broker organ transplants or the provision and acquisition of organs, may face imprisonment of one to five years for each offense. Prosecutors allege that Chen's group charged patients between NT$5 million (US$154,000) and NT$7.5 million for liver transplants and between NT$3 million and NT$3.5 million for kidney transplants conducted in China's Shandong and Hunan provinces. Prosecutors further revealed that Chen made illegal gains to taling NT$14.82 million through these activities. Chen identified patients in need of transplants during his professional duties, while his accomplices, identified by their surnames Huang (?), Yang (?), Lin (?), and Hung (?), handled communications and payments. Chen is also accused of instructing a nurse, surnamed Hsieh (?), to travel to China to administer post-surgery care in return for NT$200,000 per patient. Prosecutors said that Chen personally assisted in conducting the surgeries in Qingdao, Shandong Province, and Changsha, Hunan Province. The investigation by prosecutors in the western Taiwanese county began after a tip-off in March 2022. They are now seeking a six-year sentence for Chen and three-year sentences for his accomplices, Huang, Yang, Lin, and Hung. Additionally, they aim to confiscate the group's alleged illegal gains, which amount to NT$20.37 million. Meanwhile, Hsieh faces a deferred prosecution but must return NT$1.1 million in illegal gains as part of her settlement agreement.