Taipei prosecutors today indicted former legislative assistant Chu Cheng-chi (朱政騏) on suspicion of selling confidential documents from the Legislative Yuan to China, and are seeking a minimum sentence of five years under the National Security Act (國家安全法).
Chu, who was expected to run for Taipei city councilor for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after winning a primary last month, was accused of entering lawmakers’ offices in August 2022 to obtain classified files and selling them for 20,000 yuan (US$2,910).
Prosecutors requested that the Taipei District Court confiscate all illegal gains.
Photo: Tian Yu-hua, Taipei Times
In July 2022, Chu obtained an iPhone from retired Cabinet official Hu Peng-nien (胡鵬年), prosecutors said.
In January, Hu was indicted for cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department to establish organizations in Taiwan.
On Aug. 23 and 24, 2022, Chu used his personal phone to convert sensitive documents to PDF files, then on Aug. 24 copied them to the iPhone obtained from Hu, prosecutors said.
The files were sent to a Chinese contact surnamed Wang (王), who transferred the 20,000 yuan to Chu, they said.
The case is part of a wider scheme by the United Front Work Department to attract active and retired military personnel and political figures to form organizations in Taiwan and obtain classified information, people familiar with the matter said.
The content of the documents and operational methods are still under investigation as prosecutors are tracing the chain of command, they said.
The DPP’s Taipei city chapter said that Chu has been expelled from the party and would not be nominated as a city council candidate, adding that it is not ruling out selecting replacement candidates based on primary polling results.
It has a “zero tolerance” policy regarding national security issues, the DPP said.
Meanwhile, Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Mark Ho (何志偉) said that Chu was once a local service associate, but had never served as his legislative assistant and would have had no access to sensitive documents via him.
He urged Chu to withdraw from the Taipei City Council election and cooperate with the judicial investigation.
Additional reporting by Liu Yong-yun, Chen Cheng-yu, He Yu-hua and Su Yong-yao
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