A statement released by the Jingan branch of the Shanghai police on Saturday referred to a report inThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Herald claiming Mr Wang had confessed to espionage in Hong Kong and Taiwan,but had defected to Australia seeking political asylum.
The police statement said the Jingan branch had checked the case of"so-called China spy Wang Liqiang". Mr Wang,a 26 year old male from Guangze in Fujian province,had fled a fraud investigation,the police statement said.
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In October 2016 Mr Wang was first found guilty of fraud in Guangze People's Court in Fujian,and received a suspended sentence of one year and six months. Online court documents of the case appear to confirm the sentence,and state that Mr Wang had used"fictional facts and concealing the truth for the purpose of defrauding".
The statement said Mr Wang had defrauded a father of two children of 155,000 renminbi after offering to get the children into school.
He was given a suspended sentence because it was his first offence,and was a university student studying culture at the time,who had repaid the money he swindled and turned himself in to the police.
The Shanghai police statement said Mr Wang had left China for Hong Kong on April 10,and that a new investigation had been opened into him on April 19 this year. He is accused of fabricating a car import business and defrauding a person.