The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members.
Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said.
The verdict is final.
Photo: Reuters
Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said.
The pledges, which required them to provide identification and proof of service documents, were recorded on video and conducted while dressed in military uniforms next to China’s national flag, it said.
Chinese officials recruited Lee at a religious event in China and instructed her to use her connections to find military personnel who had incurred debts, the court said.
She also assisted China’s intelligence service to obtain national secrets and recruit informants in the military, it said.
Bonus payments were provided as an incentive for the military personnel to introduce other vulnerable colleagues to Lee and her handlers, it said.
Lee’s sentencing was reduced following her admission of guilt during the investigation, the verdict said.
Five active duty service members received sentences ranging from five years and eight months in prison to three years and two months, depending on the severity of the crime and their compliance with the investigation, it said.
Some of the active duty personnel involved in Lee’s scheme who received heavier sentences had recruited fellow military members for payment or received a salary to regularly report secrets, it said.
The court also sentenced a retired service member to six months in prison for photographing materials used in the presidential national security brief, it said.
Another retired service member was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for taking bribes while working for the government, it said.
The court sentenced Lee’s subordinate in the scheme to two years and two months in prison, the court said.
The defendants’ ability to appeal their sentences varies according to the circumstances of each case, it added.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS