TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A request for a retrial by a retired Air Force officer sentenced to four years in prison for helping China recruit spies was rejected by the Taiwan High Court, reports said Friday (July 22).

No appeals against the latest court decision were possible, CNA reported. The court argued that former Lieutenant Colonel Tu Yung-shin (杜永心) had not produced any new evidence or facts sufficient to overturn the earlier guilty verdict.

After retiring from the military in 1994, Tu moved to China to run a business. During his stay, a Chinese intelligence officer allegedly asked him to work for the communist country.

Following his return to Taiwan in 2011, Tu recruited former colleagues and friends with financial problems by offering them assistance as well as presents and overseas holidays. However, one of his targets, an Army lieutenant colonel named as Tsai (蔡), told prosecutors about Tu’s attempted recruitment and handed them the cash and presents he had received.

Tu had asked him to record a statement promising he would offer no resistance during a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

At each stage of the trial, the retired Air Force officer was sentenced to four years in prison for violating the National Security Act. Accusing prosecutors of deceptive tactics, he applied for a retrial, but reports Friday said the Taiwan High Court had rejected his arguments.