Ex-CIA agent allegedly provided intelligence to China - Shutterstock / SIPA

A former member of the US intelligence agency and federal police has been charged in Hawaii with spying for the benefit of China, to whom he allegedly passed confidential documents and the names of informants, the ministry said on Monday. Justice.

Andrew Yuk Ching Ma was approached last year by a US agent who claimed to work for the Chinese secret service and to whom he passed information in exchange for money, according to the indictment released by the ministry. .

Aged 67, born in Hong Kong and naturalized American, he worked between 1982 and 1989 at the CIA where he had secret-defense accreditation. He was arrested on August 14.

Details of CIA communications systems

A member of his family also worked for American intelligence from 1967 to 1983. The man, who suffers from cognitive impairment, is not prosecuted because of his age (85 years) and his state of health.

Together, they would have provided in 2001 details on the CIA's communication systems, its activities on the ground and disclosed the names of informants to the Chinese secret services, according to the American justice system. The investigation is based in particular on video images recovered by the FBI in which we see the two men meeting Chinese agents who give them $ 50,000.

Hired in 2004 by the FBI, he would have continued his espionage activities for at least ten years

After leaving the CIA, Andrew Yuk Ching Ma lived in Shanghai before moving to Hawaii in 2001. He was hired three years later by the local FBI division, where he reportedly continued his espionage activities for at less ten years.

The Justice Department did not say what it did after that period and until 2019.

Double Agent Hunt

This case is the latest to date from former intelligence agents prosecuted for collaborating with Beijing. American justice has embarked on a hunt for double agents after the sudden collapse of the CIA network in China between 2010 and 2012.

In 2019, two former CIA agents and one from the military intelligence agency were sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for spying on behalf of Beijing.

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  • China
  • FBI
  • CIA
  • Spying
  • United States
  • World