Two retired Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) officers were charged last night with violating the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), after they were detained and questioned on suspicion of selling classified material to the Chinese, including lists of Taiwanese undercover agents and their activities in China.
Investigators raided five locations, mostly in Taipei and New Taipei City, including the home and office of major Wang Tsung-wu (王宗武), and the home of colonel Lin Han (林翰), and said they seized documents and other material.
Wang, Lin and four individuals listed as witnesses were taken in for questioning yesterday, and Wang and Lin were later charged.
Photo: Screen grab from Wang Tsung-wu’s Facebook account
Prosecutors said Wang was sent to do intelligence work in China four times. After he retired, he was allegedly approached by Chinese intelligence agency officials during a trip to China in 2013 and recruited to work for them, prosecutors said.
Investigators said Wang was asked to develop a spy network in Taiwan, and he allegedly recruited Lin, who had been his junior at a military academy.
Prosecutors allege that Wang and Lin sold lists of MIB agents operating in China and other top classified information, which enabled Chinese intelligence to monitor their activities in China.
They said Wang and Lin received financial rewards for selling bureau secrets to China, and traveled to Macau and to Southeast Asian destinations including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, with their expenses reportedly paid for by Chinese contacts. They reportedly received a total of about US$100,000 each from unknown benefactors.
If the allegations are proven true, it could be a serious breach of the bureau by China. Exposure of the bureau’s agents and its intelligence-gathering activities could jeopardize the agents’ lives, compromise ongoing operations and lead to the arrest of agents.
Prosecutors said they are broadening their investigation to determine if other retired officers or current MIB staff have been recruited.
Yesterday’s raid was conducted by the Ministry of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
The Ministry of National Defence confirmed that the Bureau of Investigation was looking into alleged leaks by Wang and Lin.
The MIB is under the jurisdiction of the defence ministry’s General Staff Headquarters Office.
“The case was uncovered by the Military Intelligence Bureau from within, with the tip-off and investigation coming after two years of close monitoring. It is now a judicial matter, and we will work together with prosecutors to investigate this case,” defence ministry spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said last night.
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