BOSTON: US authorities have indicted three individuals tied to universities and a hospital in Boston on charges they lied about their ties to China.

They also have been accused of trying to help the Chinese government.

One of the three was Dr. Charles Lieber, the Chair of Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

According to prosecutors, Lieber had a contract with Wuhan Institute of Technology.

He is also said to be running a group having contracts with the Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health.

Authorities said Lieber lied about his ties to China while bidding on those contracts.

Police arrested at his Harvard University office.

Likewise, the second indictment has been a Chinese national working as a researcher at Boston University.

Yanqing Ye, a lieutenant of the Chinese military, had failed to disclose it while applying for a U.S. visa. Ye has not been arrested as he is currently in China.

International media reports said a search of her electronic devices revealed that Ye had complied information for the People’s Liberation Army about two U.S. persons with expertise in computer science and robotics.

Meanwhile, the third indictment has been Zaosong Zheng, a Chinese national, who was sponsored by Harvard.

Zheng, who was working as a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was allegedly caught at Logan Airport in December 2019 trying to smuggle some biological material out of the country.

(With inputs from Agencies)