The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted four former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members for alleged acts of espionage on behalf of China, requesting an 18-year prison sentence for one of them.
The office in a statement said that it charged Huang Chu-jung (黃取榮) and Chiu Shih-yuan (邱世元) with allegedly divulging or delivering classified national security information to China; disclosing, delivering or transmitting confidential information for official use to China; and money laundering.
Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was charged with two counts of leaking classified information, while Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨) was charged with divulging or delivering classified national security information to a foreign nation, it said.
Photo: Taipei Times
Huang was also charged by the High Prosecutors’ Office with “developing a criminal organization” for China, the statement said, adding that as that case involves threats to national security and social stability, the High Court has jurisdiction.
Prosecutors requested a heavier sentence for Huang of 18 years and six months, which consists of a minimum of nine years and eight years on two counts of leaking classified information, plus one-and-a-half years for money laundering.
Prosecutors are seeking a minimum sentence of nine years for Ho, a combined eight years for Chiu and at least five years for Wu.
All four are in custody, the statement said.
Huang, who formerly worked as an assistant to New Taipei City Councilor Lee Yu-tien (李余典) of the DPP, was allegedly recruited by Chinese intelligence while conducting business in China in 2017, prosecutors said.
After returning to Taiwan, he allegedly collected confidential information, including details of the president’s and vice president’s visits to allied nations, through Chiu, the former deputy head of the DPP’s Taiwan Institute of Democracy.
Huang and Chiu obtained the information from Wu, a former Presidential Office adviser, and Ho, who was an assistant to National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who was minister of foreign affairs at the time, prosecutors said.
Huang allegedly passed the confidential information to Chinese intelligence and paid Chiu, Ho and Wu Shang-yu several thousand New Taiwan dollars, they said.
In their sentencing recommendations, prosecutors said that Huang and Chiu had engaged in espionage over an extended period, obtaining confidential information from Ho and Wu Shang-yu in exchange for illicit payments from Chinese intelligence authorities, which constituted serious criminal conduct.
Ho, while a senior adviser on security and foreign affairs, betrayed the nation’s trust by leaking classified information over a prolonged period, posing a serious threat to national security, they added.
Prosecutors considered Wu Shang-yu’s actions serious, as he allegedly cooperated with Chiu and leaked sensitive information.
Huang and Ho denied any wrongdoing during the investigation, while fabricating false information to mislead authorities, they said.
However, Chiu and Wu Shang-yu both confessed.
In a separate case, Sheng Chu-ying (盛礎纓), a former assistant to former legislative speaker You Si-kun (游錫?), has been accused of leaking legislative information to Chinese intelligence.
Sheng has been released on bail and is subject to electronic monitoring. She has not yet been indicted.
All five of the accused were expelled by the DPP last month.
Separately, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office late yesterday afternoon searched the residence and office of Lin Yue-lung (林岳龍), who serves as Taipei City Councilor Wang Hsin-yi’s (王欣儀) assistant and doubles as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Taipei chapter spokesman, on suspicion that Lin might have also worked as a Chinese mole and contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法).
Lin previously also served as an assistant to KMT legislators Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) and Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐).
At press time last night, Lin was still being questioned.
Additional reporting by Wang Ting-chuan
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
RSS