Published 06:24 IST, October 10th 2020
Singapore man charged with espionage for working with Chinese operatives to spy on US
A Singapore man was imprisoned to 14 months on Friday, October 9 over allegations of passing confidential information of US authorities to the Chinese govt
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A Singapore man was imprisoned to 14 months on Friday, October 9 over allegations of passing confidential information of United States authorities to the Chinese government. According to the reports, Jun Wei Yeo confessed to working for Chinese intelligence operatives to steal US secrets.
Passed confidential information: US prosecutors
As per reports, Chinese operatives manipulated unsuspecting US government employees into writing reports that Yeo said would be sent to clients in Asia. The prosecutors maintain that Yeo was paid for his work and alleged that he shared Chinese Communist government's vision to weaken United States' global standing.
The US Justice Department said that the Singapore man passed along reports on a military aircraft program, US troop withdrawal in Afghanistan as well as on a Cabinet member, who was not identified in court papers.
Assistant US Attorney Erik Kenerson said, "It was a not one-off lapse in judgment that we're talking about here". The prosecutor said Yeo "worked for a hostile power on our soil to collect nonpublic information of interest to that power."
In addition to this, the Justice Department claims that Yeo was arrested before he could obtain any classified information. The US District Judge Tanya Chutkan during a virtual hearing in Washington said that a 14-month sentence has been imposed by the court which was two months shorter than the punishment recommended by prosecutors.
As per reports, Yeo was a doctoral candidate at a Singapore university when he was recruited by Chinese intelligence operatives. Prosecutors said that after a 2015 trip to Beijing, where Yeo gave a presentation on the political situation in southeast Asia, he was to work as a spy for China.
The prosecutors charged that he advertised fake job postings and collected hundreds of resumes from applicants, most of whom were military and government personnel, and passed the resumes to a Chinese handler.
Inputs/Image: AP
06:24 IST, October 10th 2020