China Post: Agent Discharged For Leaking Information to Mainland China

Justice Minister Chen Ding-nan ordered that agent Li Kai-ping be summarily dismissed, describing the leak as a "collaboration with the enemy." Chen also referred Li's case to prosecutors for a further probe into his criminal liability for allegedly leaking the government secrets.

The Investigation Bureau found in last March that Li used his computer at home to transmit to Beijing information concerning Falun Gong activities both in mainland China and Taiwan. Much of the information was based on the Investigation Bureau's classified reports on the spiritual [practice], including backgrounds of its [practitioners] in Taiwan, officials said.

But the officials did not reveal the identify of the mainland receiver. The Falun Gong spiritual [practice], which claims millions of followers worldwide, is banned in mainland China [..].

But before being axed, the agent told a hearing by the Justice Ministry's disciplinary committee that he obtained most of the information from the Internet.

He claimed he started gathering the materials at the request of a top government official, who was helping friends on the mainland to find out about Falun Gong.

The friends X businessmen from Taiwan X had often been approached by Falun Gong [practitioners], and wanted to know whether they were really members of the spiritual group, Li said.

The committee did not accept his defense. Although the Investigation Bureau had only wanted to give the agent a lighter punishment and kept him in the force, the minister thought the breach a serious crime that deserved expulsion.