The Taiwan High Court on Thursday upheld its August ruling of an 18-month prison sentence for a Taiwanese software engineer found guilty of attempting to collect intelligence for China.
Lai Kun-chieh (賴坤玠), 35, was a software engineer at Motorola Co’s local branch. He was transferred to Beijing and then later went to work for Lenovo Co in Beijing.
He was found to have attempted to collect information for the Chinese government from a Taiwanese officer, the High Court said.
In the August ruling, the High Court sentenced Lai to 18-months in prison and deprived him of his civil rights for two years for bribery and violation of the National Security Act (國家安全法).
Lai appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court, which asked the High Court to hold a new trial.
According to the High Court, Lai was recruited by Li Xu (李旭), a deputy department chief of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China’s State Council in February last year while he was posted in China.
After returning to Taiwan, Lai approached his former schoolmate, an army officer surnamed Tsao (曹), in an attempt to collect intelligence about Taiwan’s missile technology, the court said.
Lai was caught handing over a cash bribe of US$16,000 and NT$113,000 (US$3,730) to Tsao, who had tipped off his superiors, in May.
Lai can still appeal the new verdict, according to the High Court.
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