NSB dismisses defense minister's son over sex scandal

Taipei, April 3 (CNA) The National Security Bureau (NSB) on Wednesday said it had fired Chiu Huang-nien (邱晃年), the son of Taiwan's defense minister, upon completing an investigation into the leak of alleged sex tapes of Chiu with prostitutes.

In a statement, the bureau said that based on its investigation, Chiu filmed the videos in question on a private device, and did not use any devices or equipment related to his work at the NSB.

During the probe, Chiu turned over his phone, laptop and the password to his cloud account to investigators who confirmed that neither of the devices had been infected with malware, the bureau said.

For that reason, investigators assessed that the leak was caused by hackers who had gained access to Chiu's cloud account password, the NSB said.

The bureau added that Chiu had also undergone counterintelligence polygraph testing, which concluded that he had not been blackmailed over the incident and did not pose a threat to national security.

After completing the probe, investigators sent the case to the NSB's Rewards and Disciplinary Committee, which approved an administrative punishment of two major demerits against Chiu and dismissed him from his post, the bureau said.

Meanwhile, the NSB said it had asked the Investigation Bureau to examine whether intelligence, or the identities of intelligence operatives, might have been compromised in the case, and to probe the possible involvement of "external forces."

The bureau has also sought assistance via international channels to determine the IP address and identity of the individual who posted the video to a foreign website, it added.

Chiu's dismissal came after the allegations against Chiu, a captain in the Army as well as an NSB member, were made last week in a report by the online Chinese-language news site Yi Media.

The report claimed to be in possession of intimate images and video clips, but did not publish them. Some of the clips later began circulating online.

Following the allegations, Chiu's father, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正), publicly apologized on behalf of his son and offered a verbal resignation to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

The defense minister, however, pledged on Monday to stay on in his post after the president urged him to do so.