A retired Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) officer who was found guilty of breaking national security laws and was suspected of passing classified information to Chinese authorities was shown leniency by public prosecutors, who issued a fine of NT$60,000.
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau had been monitoring major general Wang Feng-fang (王豐汸) since his retirement in 2005.
Military intelligence officers are forbidden from going abroad without permission for three years after retirement, as stipulated in the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法).
While still employed, Wang was responsible for dealing with military intelligence on China and had handled highly classified documents.
Investigators found Wang visited the Chinese city of Nanjing in 2006 and 2007 without prior authorization from the MIB and the Ministry of National Defense.
Investigation bureau officials suspected Wang was being recruited by Chinese intelligence agencies and that he was passing on classified military information to his Chinese contacts.
However, according to reports, continued monitoring did not find evidence that Wang had been recruited by Chinese authorities.
Wang defended his actions by saying his first visit to China was because of the death of his mother in Taiwan and he had to personally deliver the bereavement notification to his family’s older relatives living in Nanjing. The second visit was to supervise construction at his ancestral cemetery site.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday said that Wang was given a lenient punishment with deferred prosecution, put him on two years’ probation and issued a fine of NT$60,000.
The deferred prosecution, usually used for minor offenses when the defendant has admitted guilt and shown remorse, means no charges have been filed against Wang, and he will not be prosecuted if he complies with the law during his two-year probation period.
Prosecutors said that Wang had no prior criminal record, and that he had admitted to taking trips to China without applying for permission soon after his retirement.
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