Chinese police said Saturday a man identified in foreign media as a Chinese spy who defected to Australia with a trove of intelligence on Beijing's political interference operations in Hong Kong and overseas was an "unemployed" fraud fugitive.
Wang Liqiang, 26, was found guilty of automobile import fraud in 2016 and given a suspended 15-month prison sentence by a court in east China's Fujian province, Shanghai police said in a statement on an official social media account.
The fraud totalled around 4.6 million yuan (USD 653,000).
His Chinese passport and Hong Kong resident document were "forged", police said, adding that authorities were "further investigating the case."
Wang was accused of defrauding an individual of 4.6 million yuan.
Australian newspapers The Age and Sydney Morning Herald said Wang had given Australia's counter-espionage agency the identities of China's senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong.
He also provided details of how they funded and conducted operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia, the reports said.
Wang said he was personally involved in infiltration and disruption operations in all three territories, according to the reports.
He also "revealed in granular detail" how Beijing covertly controls listed companies to fund intelligence operations, including the surveillance and profiling of dissidents and the co-opting of media organisations, the report stated.
Wang is currently living in Sydney with his wife and infant son on a tourist visa and has requested political asylum, it said.
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