Kaohsiung prosecutors on Monday requested a heavier punishment for a coast guard officer surnamed Wu (吳) who was found guilty of selling classified military material to a Chinese national, after Wu was sentenced to six years, two months in prison in the first ruling.
The Ciaotou District Court last month found the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) corporal guilty of corruption for obtaining and selling to a Chinese man classified reports on radar stations and defense installations, as well as other sensitive documents.
The Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office in Kaohsiung on Monday requested that the High Court re-examine the case to impose a heavier punishment, due to the serious nature of incidents when Wu worked at the CGA’s Second Mobile Unit in Kaohsiung’s Gushan District (鼓山).
Photo: Taipei Times
Prosecutors last week applied to extend Wu’s detention, citing a flight risk and tampering with evidence, and the High Court approved detaining her for another three months.
An investigation uncovered that Wu posted messages on social media about her urgent need to earn more money. A Chinese national surnamed Wang (王) made contact and found out about her work for the coast guard, with Wu agreeing to pass on classified material that she could obtain in exchange for money.
Wu then took photographs of classified documents relating to maritime military exercises, files on coastal installations and defense plans, the daily logbooks of coast guard units and other CGA internal reports.
She accessed the classified material from Nov. 14 to Dec. 22 last year, prosecutors said.
Wu allegedly received NT$73,000 from Wang, which she converted to the tether cryptocurrency.
Wang then promised to pay her NT$500,000 for gathering more classified material relating to military and critical infrastructure, and defense plans on Taiwan’s outlying islands, they said.
Prosecutors uncovered evidence of Wu making an effort to do so by asking a colleague surnamed Yeh (葉) in a social media message: “Do you have access to defense plans on Pratas Island [Dongsha Island, 東沙島]? Any work records of the Dongsha Command, and also personnel and defense installation records? Also can you access the critical infrastructure plans at Dongsha, I need this stuff.”
Yeh refused her requests.
In the first ruling, Wu was convicted of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), resulting in the prison term and being deprived of her civil rights for three years.
Wu has already filed an appeal to seek a reduced prison sentence.
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