Taipei, April 2 (CNA) An ex-aide to former Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) is under investigation by prosecutors who accuse him of selling confidential information to Chinese spies.
The man, identified by his surname Sheng (盛), was released on bail of NT$200,000 and must undergo electronic monitoring after being questioned by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office and Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau in recent days, according to the prosecutors office.
Sheng worked for about nine months for You, a veteran lawmaker and founding member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who once served as Taiwan’s Premier, during You’s term as leader of the Legislative Yuan from 2020 to 2024.
The prosecutors allege that Sheng met with Chinese intelligence agents in China and received payments in cash and virtual currency in exchange for providing confidential information from Taiwan’s Legislature.
The case came to the attention of the authorities after Sheng allegedly tried to recruit a friend in the cash-for-information scheme.
After being questioned by investigators, Sheng admitted to receiving money from sources in China but denied providing classified information, claiming he had only handed over publicly available material.
Investigators believe Sheng deleted chat records and other files from his phone.
Sheng had recently worked “only for a few months” in the office of Loh Meei-ling (羅美玲), a DPP legislator, but resigned in February to pursue other work, Loh told the media on Wednesday.
Loh said she was “extremely shocked” to learn that Sheng was under investigation, and said she “hadn’t noticed anything unusual” about him.
She added that she was still unaware of the full situation and would allow investigators to continue their work.
Sheng also worked as an aide to DPP lawmaker Kuo Yu-ching (郭昱晴) for less than two months last year and an year under Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑), also a DPP lawmaker.
After news of the investigation came to light on Wednesday, lawmakers from both sides of the political divide made statements to the press.
Hsu Chih-chieh said he was “really surprised” to learn of the case, adding that everyone should be more vigilant and “communist spies are next to you.”
Meanwhile, Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) told the press that the DPP “falsely accuse others of being accomplices of the Chinese Communist Party all day long, but it turns out all the communist spies are hiding in the DPP organization.”
