The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted three former aides of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators on espionage charges for attempting to steal classified information about top officials, including President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) medical records, to pass on to Chinese intelligence officials.
On June 18, Chen Wei-jen (陳惟仁), Lee Yi-hsien (李易諴) and Lin Yung-ta (林雍達) were questioned following raids by Taipei prosecutors and investigation agents.
Chen and Lee were detained after questioning for allegedly contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and setting up a spy network for China, while Lin was released on bail of NT$100,000.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Chen and Lee were yesterday freed on bail of NT$100,000 and NT$60,000 respectively, and banned from travel.
Chen is accused of heading a spy mission from 2012 to 2018, with Lee and Lin serving as his deputies while they worked as legislative assistants.
Chen was the first to be recruited by Huang Guanlong (黃冠龍), an intelligence officer from the Chinese Ministry of State Security, prosecutors said.
In 2012, Chen invited Lin on a trip to Macau and from there traveled to meet Huang in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province. Lin allegedly agreed to work as a spy in exchange for money.
Lee, who also needed money, later agreed to join the group.
Evidence showed that Chen in 2017 linked up with an information technology technician working for a government contractor, who testified that Chen asked him to hack into the National Health Insurance database to obtain the medical records of Tsai and other top officials, prosecutors said.
Chen allegedly also approached a police officer, surnamed Peng (彭), who worked as a security escort for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), to access Ker’s office and private rooms, they said.
He allegedly asked Peng to gather materials on the 2016 presidential election campaign and DPP internal memos.
The technician and Peng testified that they talked to Chen, but did not work with him or pass any materials to him, prosecutors said.
An investigation also found that in 2016 Chen offered NT$200,000 to a research assistant working for a KMT policy think tank, who helped him obtain party documents pertaining to cross-strait relations.
In the same year, Chen and Lee allegedly befriended a journalist who covers the police and judiciary beats, and asked him to gather information from National Police Agency officials about the Falun Gong activities and personnel data.
Using their access as legislative aides, they allegedly collected internal reports and meeting minutes at the legislature and government ministries, with a special focus on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council.
They used their connections with local reporters covering politics to collect other materials, and compile lists of government personnel, media workers and legislative assistants, prosecutors said.
From 2012 to 2018, Chen and Lin worked for then-KMT legislator Chen Shu-huey (陳淑慧), now Chiayi deputy mayor, while Lee worked for then-KMT legislator Chang Li-shan (張麗善), now Yunlin County commissioner.
Lin had also worked for then-KMT legislator Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁) from 1999 to 2008, who was a KMT member until 2002, when he joined the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, and then the DPP in 2010.
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