The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the jail sentences for four former servicemembers who were found guilty of passing information to Chinese intelligence in exchange for bribes totaling NT$1.84 million (US$58,865).
In the final verdict, Lai Chung-yu (賴重宇) was sentenced to seven years in prison, Li Yu-erh (黎育爾) received six years and seven months, Chen Wen-hao (陳文豪) six years and five months, and Lin Yu-kai (林裕凱) five years and 10 months.
Lai, Li and Lin were assigned to the 211th Military Police Battalion, which guards the Presidential Office Building, while Chen served in the Ministry of National Defense’s Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
The four men betrayed the nation after years of training and service in highly sensitive roles, the Supreme Court said.
They took bribes from Chinese intelligence in exchange for internal information from the Presidential Office and the military, and endangered national security, it added.
Lai and Chen began passing information to Chinese intelligence in April 2022, while they were still in the military, the indictment said.
They were allegedly recruited and paid by a Taiwanese man surnamed Huang (黃), who remains at large.
Initially, Chen was the one taking photographs of internal documents, which Lai then handed to Huang or a Chinese operative, the indictment said.
Lai later also photographed documents himself, but was caught and reassigned, it added.
After getting transferred, Lai recruited Li to photograph documents, the indictment said, adding that Li passed the task on to Lin before retiring in February last year.
Prosecutors estimated Lai received NT$460,000, while Chen, Li and Lin got NT$450,000, NT$664,100 and NT$265,900 respectively.
All illegal proceeds were confiscated, and all four men confessed during the investigation and trial.
The High Court in August handed them prison terms ranging from five years and 10 months to seven years for bribery, breach of duty and leaking confidential government documents under the National Security Act (國家安全法).
The Supreme Court upheld the verdicts, which are final.
Lin withdrew his appeal during the Supreme Court proceedings and was transferred to prison to begin serving his term.
Lai, Li and Chen are in custody, and are expected to be moved to prison soon.
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