Taiwanese authorities say a bureau under the Ministry of Justice has charged two executives tied to a local company accused of helping China’s cyber spies target journalists and other people connected to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

After a probe, the Taipei City Investigation Office issued deferred prosecution orders against Li Hualun and Chen Mengsen for alleged violations of Taiwan’s Personal Data Protection Act and other crimes. The bureau said investigators found the two obtained accounts for the messaging app LINE and leased them to Xiamen Empress Information Technology Co. Ltd., described as a firm allegedly linked to China’s “cyber army.” The bureau said the arrangement cost about $161 per account.

The investigation said the accounts enabled government-backed hackers to carry out “social engineering attacks” against Taiwanese officials, scholars, NGO workers and journalists by impersonating reporters affiliated with ICIJ. Taiwan’s bureau said the suspects acted under direction of a unit of the Chinese Communist Party’s cyber army. The authorities also said the operation involved luring targets into installing malicious tools intended to access devices and steal data.

The Taiwanese case builds on findings reported by ICIJ in collaboration with cybersecurity analysts at Citizen Lab, which described a coordinated campaign targeting ICIJ reporters using fake journalist identities and other deception, including suspicious emails and communications designed to extract information.