Chen Pin-jen, 48, a former aide to a ruling Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) legislator, received government documents from Wang Jen-ping, a senior specialist at the Presidential Office’s Department of Special Affairs, and passed them on to Chinese intelligence agents.
Both Chen and Wang were arrested and detained for allegedly leaking state secrets to China after prosecutors conducted a raid on Wang’s office at the presidential building last Wednesday.
Chen confessed that Wang had delivered sensitive documents to him concerning defense, foreign, and cross-strait relations since 2008.
According to Taiwanese media, Chen divulged that he delivered the documents to his contacts in China either by fax, or in person, in cases involving top-secret documents.
Citing unnamed sources, The United Daily News reported that the photocopied documents Wang passed on to Chen included minutes of meetings, information about Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou’s inaugural address last year, and the presidential office’s organizational charts and division phone numbers.
More than 100 documents might have been passed to Chinese intelligence agents over a period of at least two years, the paper reported.
According to Taiwanese media reports, Chen was also found to have some unexplained deposits in his bank account when he returned from China each time.
Prosecutors estimate that Chen may have received about half a million Taiwan dollars for his alleged spy work.
