Retired lieutenant colonel Tu Yung-hsin (杜永心), who was convicted of contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), has lost his appeal to the Taipei High Administrative Court, after a lower court removed his retirement pension.
Tu retired from active service in 1994 and went to China to start a business, where he met and befriended a member of China’s Central Military Commission surnamed Luo (羅), the court filing said.
Luo enticed Tu with financial rewards to set up a spy network in Taiwan, where he would access classified information and pass it on to Luo, it said.
Photo: Taipei Times file
After Tu returned to Taiwan in October 2011, he began recruiting people for the spy network and approached a lieutenant colonel surnamed Tsai (蔡), a section chief at an army combat unit, they said.
Tu offered Tsai NT$200,000 (US$6,174 at the current exchange rate), expensive foreign brand alcohol, top-grade tea gift packs and an all-expenses paid trip, the ruling said, adding that Tu even arranged for an overseas trip to meet Luo.
“Tsai was told to swear loyalty to China during the meeting with Luo, and to sign a pledge that if a war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, Tsai and his unit would not fight nor put up any resistance against enemy forces,” the filing said.
Prosecutors charged Tu with developing a spy network and contravening the National Security Act.
Meanwhile, Tsai was not charged, since he returned the cash and the gifts, recorded their conversations and gave it to prosecutors as evidence.
The New Taipei City District Court found Tu guilty in 2020 and sentenced him to four years in prison. He filed an appeal, but the Supreme Court upheld the verdict in 2022. Tu is in prison, serving his sentence.
The Taipei High Administrative Court also rejected Tu’s appeal regarding his pension, saying that the Ministry of National Defense has ruled that Tu no longer has a right to a military pension. As part of the verdict handed down in 2022, Tu was required to return the pension paid to him for 11 years.
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