The High Court yesterday reduced the sentence of a former lieutenant colonel who was convicted of attempting to recruit spies on behalf of China.
In July last year, the Taoyuan District Court sentenced Kung Fan-chia (孔繁嘉) to five years and six months in prison after he pleaded guilty.
The High Court yesterday reduced his sentence by two months to five years and four months, saying that he had not started trying to recruit spies until after leaving active service.
Photo: Taipei Times
The sentence can still be appealed.
While working for the Ministry of National Defense’s Military News Agency, Kung was introduced to a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official based in Xiamen, China, who was operating under the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, the High Court said in a statement.
In November 2006 and April 2008, Kung accepted US$6,000 and US$5,700 respectively from the CCP to invite active-duty and retired military personnel to visit China or a third area abroad, it said.
The aim was to have them divulge military secrets and enable the CCP to form a spy ring in Taiwan, it added.
Kung retired on Aug. 17, 2012, but received 60,000 yuan (US$8,357 at the current exchange rate) from his Chinese handlers between 2014 and 2016, it said.
In 2017, he tried to invite an officer surnamed Wang (王) to China or another location to connect him with CCP officials, but Wang rejected his offer, it said.
However, he successfully invited a retired soldier, also surnamed Wang (王), to China, where they were hosted by CCP officials in April and May 2019, it said.
In 2020, Kung tried to organize more meetings between the retired soldier and CCP officials, but the mission failed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
Kung gave the soldier a CCP official’s contact information, but the soldier did not reach out to them, it said.
The High Court found that Kung was guilty of two crimes — one count of bribery under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and one count of contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法).
The Taoyuan District Court only found him guilty of accepting bribes or other improper benefits, and mistakenly determined that he had begun recruiting spies while still in active service, the High Court said.
Taking into account those factors and that Kung pleaded guilty, his sentence should be reduced by two months, it said.
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