An Apple employee has been charged with selling secrets to Asian suppliers of the tech giant in exchange for at least one million dollars in kickbacks, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Paul Shin Devine, an Apple global supply manager, was charged in a federal grand-jury indictment in the United States "with offenses that include wire fraud, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions," starting in 2006, the Journal reported online.

"Devine came up with a scheme in which he supplied companies such as Cresyn Co. in South Korea, Kaedar Electronics Co. in China and Jin Li Mould Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. in Singapore with confidential information that would let them negotiate favorable contracts with Apple," the report said.

"The indictment and civil suit claim that in return, Mr. Devine demanded payments, which were sent to bank accounts in his wife\'s name in amounts that were small enough to avoid attention," it added.

Devine "shared part of the money with Mr. Ang, who was an employee of Jin Li, and helped broker deals with Jin Li as well as others, according to the indictment and civil suit," the report said.

The indictment names Andrew Ang, who worked for an Apple supplier, as accused of wire fraud and conspiracy, the Journal report added.