He came cheap. It cost the Chinese only $17,000 euros in total to buy the secrets of Tarmo Kõuts (not to be confused with the admiral of the same name), vice-chair of a scientific committee at NATO’s Undersea Research Centre.
The first Estonian citizen to be caught spying for the Chinese, Kõuts received three years imprisonment and confiscation of the 17,000 euros in a sentence handed down this March. He had been arrested in September 2020.
It must be noted that the prosecution had reached a plea bargain agreement with Kõuts. It would appear that the seemingly light sentence would partially reflect the substantial value of information Kõuts was able to supply in return. In this respect, it’s also relevant that during the six month pretrial investigative period, Kõuts did not have a lawyer.
In addition, all though Kõuts had a security clearance on high level military secrets, both NATO and Estonian, the prosecution did not charge him with betraying classified information.
(Pikemalt saab lugeda Eesti Elu 2. juuli 2021 paber- ja PDF/Digilehest)
