Police Officer and Woman Charged for Alleged Computer Misuse & Wrongful Communication of Information

On 24 September 2024, the following two individuals were charged in Court for allegedly committing offences under the Computer Misuse Act and the Official Secrets Act:

a) Chan Zhiyao (“Chan”) (陈志耀, 43-year-old male, Singaporean), a Senior Investigation Officer of the Singapore Police Force (“SPF”) at the material time; and

b) Tran Thi Tien (“Tran”) (36-year-old female, Vietnamese).

2. Sometime between 9 and 10 December 2020, Chan is alleged to have misused a SPF computer system to conduct a screening, without authority, on an individual and thereby obtain a police report number pertaining to the said individual. Thereafter, on 10 December 2020, Chan is alleged to have communicated the said police report number to Tran.

3. For his actions, Chan faces one charge each under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act, and Section 5(1)(e)(i) punishable under Section 17(2) of the Official Secrets Act. Tran faces one charge under Section 5(2) punishable under Section 17(2) of the Official Secrets Act for allegedly receiving information from Chan.

4. Any person convicted of an offence punishable under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act can be fined up to S$5,000, or sentenced to imprisonment of up to two years or both. Any person convicted of an offence punishable under Section 17(2) of the Official Secrets Act can be fined up to S$2,000 and sentenced to imprisonment of up to two years.