Retired lieutenant colonel Lan Yen-yi (藍彥逸), 60, found guilty of spying for China and trying to infiltrate Taiwan’s top intelligence agencies, must serve his two-year-and-three-month prison term, the Supreme Court said in a final ruling yesterday.
Rejecting Lan’s appeal, the judges upheld a High Court ruling convicting him of breaching the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法) and the National Security Act (國家安全法).
As they are serious offenses, the Supreme Court withdrew an earlier suspended sentence and said Lan must serve out his sentence.
An investigation found that from 2005 to 2006, Lan had attempted to infiltrate and obtain classified information from the National Security Bureau and the Military Intelligence Bureau, the nation’s two highest-level intelligence bodies, as well as tried to recruit military officers to form a spy network for China.
In the first ruling by the Pingtung District Court in May last year, Lan was given a suspended sentence of two years and three months and total fines of NT$190,000.
The Pingtung court at the time said that his spying activities did not cause real damage to national security.
Prosecutors filed an appeal with the High Court and then the Supreme Court.
In the final ruling, the Supreme Court said that Lan had served in the army, received training and promotions, and owes his allegiance and loyalty to the nation.
“However, enticed by a small cash reward, Lan passed on classified information about our intelligence agencies to Chinese officials,” it said.
“Lan’s action had endangered the safety of Taiwanese intelligence officers. He also tried to develop a spy network in Taiwan to further infiltrate and access more classified materials. These activities are a betrayal of our county and have wreaked serious damage on our national security. The suspended sentence is thereby withdrawn and Lan must serve out his prison term,” the ruling said.
A graduate of National Defense University in Taipei, Lan had served in the army’s logistics command, worked at the Ministry of National Defense and taught at several military-affiliated universities before retiring in 1996.
In 2004, he went to China to work for Taiwanese businesses, with stints in Shanghai, Fuzhou, Shenzhen and Nanning cities.
An investigation found that Lan had befriended Chinese government officials, including two intelligence agents, surnamed Li (李) and Huang (黃), who plied Lan with money and arranged for sexual services to entice him to agree to be a spy.
Lan returned to Taiwan in 2005 and 2006, and sought to hook up with his military colleagues to help him find contacts at the National Security Bureau and the Military Intelligence Bureau to obtain classified information and recruit others.
When Lan returned to China, he met with Chinese intelligence officers for dinner at a restaurant in Shenzhen, where he passed on the personal data of four Taiwanese officers at the two bureaus, including their real name, rank, work unit, details of their office work and field activities, as well as their education and training background, investigators said.
In return, Lan reportedly received 8,000 yuan (US$1,248) as a one-time reward from the Chinese side, they said.
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