Tsao, a former player for the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Dodgers, is one of the most prominent defendants in allegations of game-fixing by a gambling syndicate involving at least a dozen members. The scandal broke on October 26 with widespread searches and the detention of six suspects.

The team management said they would not renew his contract after the present season, while media reports have suggested he wined and dined with ring leaders.

In a signed statement released to the media Tuesday, Tsao said he had never betrayed fans who had watched his games. He accused the media of being too fast in condemning him.

“I discovered that before waiting for the truth, my image and my innocence were already condemned by the media, and blackened by too many false reports,” the statement said.

Tsao apologized for the problems his careless choice of friends had caused to society. His statement named Huang Chun-chung, a former Elephants teammate now in custody as he is suspected of being the main middleman between the gamblers and the players. Tsao said Huang was the man who helped him find a doctor when his hand hurt so badly he couldn’t even lift it.

“It doesn’t matter that I can’t play now, but please believe in my innocence, and do not destroy all efforts I have ever made,” Tsao pleaded.

“I learnt a painful lesson with this incident,” the statement concluded.

Tsao’s agent later repeated his assertions at a news conference, insisting he had not done anything illegal.

The team’s Japanese ex-manager, Shin Nakagomi, was released on bail of NT$80,000 Tuesday after being stopped from boarding a flight out of Taiwan Monday evening. The court agreed to cut his bail money down from NT$150,000 after his attorney said Nakagomi had been sacked by the Elephants and would find it hard to find enough money. The court also decided to maintain a travel ban. His attorney accused the other defendants of making false accusations against the former manager.

The Sinon Bulls put their only member allegedly involved in the scandal, Hsieh Chia-hsien, on a watch list, reports said Tuesday.

The Banciao District Prosecutors Office questioned another member of the Brother Elephants Tuesday, Yang Tsung-fan. After the outfielder left prosecutors, the team attorney told reporters that Yang denied involvement in the case.

Monday evening, teammate Wang Chun-tai was released on bail of NT$80,000 after promising to hand over his illegal income from the scam, estimated at NT$200,000, as soon as possible.

The Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council said Tuesday that for the time being, there was no possibility of disbanding the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The fate of the Brother Elephants has been repeatedly under a cloud as about a dozen players became suspects.

After several other game-fixing scandals in the past as well as financial problems, only four teams are still members of the CPBL. In addition to the Elephants, individual players of the Sinon Bulls and the La New Bears have also been listed as defendants in the latest scandal, while the Uni-President Lions has so far escaped all accusations of involvement.

The SAC also welcomed a plan by the Ministry of Justice to couple each CPBL team to a different district prosecutors office in order to prevent the throwing of games in the future and to provide players with legal advice.

The teams had the responsibility of improving the salaries, union and retirement conditions of their players, SAC Minister Dai Hsia-ling told a meeting Tuesday. Commentators have named relatively low salaries for players as a reason why game-fixing schemes keep hitting Taiwanese baseball. The current scandal is the fifth in 20 years.