Taiwan is hunting a fugitive political aide accused of corruption and spying for China, and prosecutors fear he is about to slip out of the country by boat — bad news for a legal system that already let him cut off his ankle monitor.

• Chang Chun-chieh, the money man for independent lawmaker Kao Chin Su-mei, cut his electronic tag near a Taipei park on Sept. 6 and vanished.
• He was out on a NT$10 million bond after being charged in June along with 23 others; prosecutors want more than 16 years for him over fake assistant salaries, misused grants, money laundering, and illegally importing Chinese test kits.
• Investigators tracked him south, where a contact in Chiayi gave him a car, raising fears he will board a ferry to the Penghu islands and then a fishing boat out of Taiwan.
• Coast guard and port security across Penghu have been stepped up, following the same escape route earlier white-collar fugitives used.
• He is also caught up in a separate spying case: officials suspect he took Chinese money and helped build a network in Taiwan, after years of trips to Beijing and meetings with China's Taiwan affairs and ethnic-policy officials.

Outlook: If he reaches a fishing boat before the net closes, Taiwan loses a key defendant in both a graft case and a live China espionage investigation.