The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal by a Kaohsiung businessman surnamed Tu, who is headed to prison after being found guilty in an earlier ruling of breaches of the National Security Act (國家安全法).
Kaohsiung prosecutors accused Tu of developing a spy network for China, recruiting military personnel and bribing them to obtain government information.
He was indicted in 2017 along with three members of the military.
In the second ruling in July 2018, Tu was found guilty and received a 10-month sentence, which he appealed. The three military personnel were sentenced to terms of five to 11 months, which were commuted to fines. They did not appeal.
In a trial at the Taiwan High Court last year, Tu received a reduced term of nine months on grounds that the documents he had supplied to China were not classified. He appealed again, but the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s decision, which is now final.
Prosecutors said Tu, who ran a confectionery business, in 2009 befriended two Chinese officials surnamed Dong (董) and Zhang (張).
Tu talked about his connections in the Kaohsiung area, and agreed to recruit people in Taiwan’s armed forces to gain access to confidential military material in exchange for money, prosecutors said.
Tu recruited retired sergeant major Wang Jui-chi (王瑞祺), who was in charge of an ammunition depot in Kaohsiung’s Cishan District (旗山) while he was in the Army Logistics Command, they said.
Tu introduced Wang to the Chinese officials and Dong gave Tu cash to give to Wang, they said.
Wang in 2012 recruited two sergeants surnamed Hou (侯) and Chen (陳) after learning that they were in need of money, prosecutors said.
Hou and Chen obtained reports on “application of military doctrine,” air force telecommunications operations and manuals for field artillery units, which were sent to China, prosecutors said.
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