Taiwan's crackdown on celebrities faking medical conditions to dodge military service widened again, with prosecutors pushing for tough prison terms and no chance of paying fines instead.

• New Taipei prosecutors charged 15 more people in the fifth round of the case, including Prince (Chiu Sheng-yi) of the boy band Lollipop.
• Prince admitted paying the equivalent of a large bribe to escape service, and prosecutors want at least two years and two months in prison.
• The scheme worked by coaching draft-age men to hold their breath to spike blood pressure readings, with a stand-in wearing the 24-hour monitor to secure a fake severe hypertension diagnosis.
• Prosecutors singled out Prince for staying quiet and denying it to reporters even after bandmates were caught.
• The alleged ringleader faces a request for more than five years, and prosecutors asked the court to rule out probation or fines to avoid signalling that money can buy a way out.

Outlook: More rounds of charges are likely as the investigation keeps tracing celebrities linked to the same fixer, with sentencing decisions now up to the court.