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Retired NSB official accused of disclosing secrets released

ROC Central News Agency

2007-11-29 23:54:57

    Taipei, Nov. 29 (CNA) The Taipei District Court rejected Thursday an application by prosecutors to detain a retired National Security Bureau (NSB) official for allegedly revealing national secrets in a book he recently published.

    The Taipei Prosecutors Office subpoenaed Hsiao Tai-fu Wednesday and decided to release him on bail of NT$500,000 (US$15,423).

    Prosecutor Chang Ching-wen later asked the court to have Hsiao detained when the latter was unable to provide the bail money. However, the court released Hsiao without bail after conducting its own investigation.

    Hsiao held a news conference with opposition Kuomintang Legislator Joanna C. Lei after his release.

    According to Hsiao, the book, titled "30 Years in Intelligence, " was partly about his experiences in the bureau, where he was responsible for training new intelligence agents. Most of the book is a training text he wrote for newcomers and descriptions of his experiences in training new agents, Hsiao said. "I retired from the bureau in September 2005 and the bureau classified the text in October of that year without notifying me of the decision, " Hsiao said.

    Hsiao said he finished drafting the book at around Chinese New Year this year, and sent a copy of the draft to the bureau in March asking for opinions about the book's content.

    He said the bureau did not point out which parts of the book it considers to be leaking secrets. Instead, it told Hsiao only that "you should know which parts are considered confidential information."

    According to a statement released by the NSB, the bureau found confidential leaks "in every section and chapter of the book, " and asked Hsiao to "restrain" himself before publishing it.

    The statement also said the bureau regretted that Hsiao, a retired NSB official, did not practice the "basic principle" of keeping secrets of the bureau's operations for the whole of his life.

(By Ruth Wang)

ENDITEM/J