The Taoyuan District Court on Wednesday handed down an eight-month prison sentence to former independent legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei (馬治薇) for selling information about Taiwanese government personnel to two Chinese people.
The court ruled that Ma had contravened the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) by receiving money in exchange for “a large amount of personal contact information” that she had collected.
The proceeds of the crime would also be confiscated in accordance with the law, the court said.
Photo: Yu Jui-jen, Taipei Times
In January, Ma was detained on suspicion of having received NT$1 million (US$30,681) from China to fund her election campaign in exchange for intelligence.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Ma in March.
Prosecutors requested a 44-month prison sentence and a NT$2 million fine for Ma for contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Personal Data Protection Act.
The indictment alleged that the 40-year-old became acquainted with Chinese individuals “involved in Taiwan’s affairs” during a trip to China in April last year, and the two sides discussed Ma providing political intelligence about Taiwan in exchange for funding.
Ma was a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) member at the time, even though she ran as an independent in Taoyuan in the Jan. 13 legislative elections.
The TPP expelled her on Jan. 6, a day after she was detained.
Following a preliminary investigation, prosecutors alleged that Ma had received funds in US dollars and tether, a cryptocurrency.
The amount of cryptocurrency that Ma received was equivalent to about NT$1.05 million, prosecutors said.
In exchange for these payments, Ma gave her Chinese handlers nicknamed “Sister Bing” (冰姐) and “Ah-Hau” (阿浩) a list of contacts for central government agencies, as well as business cards for personnel involved in national security, they said.
The court determined that Ma had illegal intent in doing so, and sentenced her to eight months in jail and ordered the confiscation of her illegal gains for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act.
The court also ruled that there was no evidence that Ma had breached national security laws since the information she gave to the Chinese individuals was not confidential.
The court also acquitted Ma of contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act because there was a lack of evidence to prove “Sister Bing” and “Ah-Hau” were affiliated with any foreign hostile force or other political organization, it said.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said it is considering filing an appeal against the ruling.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS