Court video shows spy lies
▶ Ex-con confesses fraud involving $17,000
The self-proclaimed Chinese spy Wang Liqiang who applied for political asylum in Australia confessed his fraud involving 120,000 yuan ($17,000) in a Chinese court in 2016, admitting he had “a weak legal awareness,” a video the court exclusively sent to the Global Times on Wednesday showed.
Wang was tried in the People’s Court of Guangze county, Nanping, East China’s Fujian Province in 2016, where he confessed to defrauding the sum, according to the video.
Born in Guangze county, Wang was a university student back in 2016. He was taken into custody on March 4, 2016 for suspected fraud and granted bail for the pending trial. Wang stood trial on October 14, 2016.
Prosecutors said in June 2015, Wang got to know the victim, known only by the surname of Gao, through his girlfriend and obtained his trust.
In July 2015, Gao was handling the school affairs of his son and daughter.
Wang defrauded Gao of 25,000 yuan on the grounds that he could help Gao handle the schooling but needed money.
In August 2015, Wang again defrauded Gao of 130,000 yuan in the name of helping Gao invest in stocks.
Later at Gao’s demand Wang returned Gao 35,000 yuan. After his deeds were exposed, Wang turned himself in and confessed to his crimes.
Wang raised no objection during trial and stated in the final stage of the trial that he had “a weak legal awareness” and “hoped for a lenient punishment from the court,” the video shows.
Wang was eventually sentenced to jail for a year and three months, with a reprieve of a year and a half, plus a fine of 10,000 yuan, to which he offered no objection.
Less than four years later at the beginning of this year, Wang was again suspected of fraud and the amount involved was “very large,” according to the latest information released by Shanghai police.
Police said Wang committed a fraud of more than 4.6 million yuan in February on a fictitious investment project for imported automobiles.
Wang, now at large, maintained his fraudulent activities in foreign countries, making up a series of fake stories that throw shade at China backed by Western media speculation, observers said.
All the evidence points toward the fact that Wang is merely a fraudster spouting nonsense and mixing up black and white, observers said.
“It is clear that ‘fraudster turns spy’ is an absurd and flawed ‘script’ written by antiChina forces,” Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan is using Wang’s fraudulent confession to create the illusion that “the mainland is involved in the elections in Taiwan,” Zhu said.
On Saturday, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Wang had “defected” to Australia. The newspaper said Wang was senior and important, and ordered to “focus on meddling in Taiwan’s 2020 elections.”
However, Shanghai police said on Saturday that Wang is wanted for involvement in a fraud case. Wang left for Hong Kong on April 10 with forged passports.