Chinese spies are thought to be behind offers of large sums of money to former members of the Defence Forces in return for classified information on Irish and European security affairs.
Among those targeted were Michael Murphy, the former deputy director of the Defence Forces’ military intelligence section, and Declan Power, a former soldier and now a security consultant who works for the European Union. Both approaches, which happened in the past three years, were reported to the authorities.
Murphy says that he and a business partner were offered €100,000 to organise an investigation into a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Europe after being contacted online by a Chinese citizen.
“We were told the client was a wealthy Chinese family who required discretion,” he said
