Ex-police sergeant charged under OSA for accessing system to obtain NRIC for outsider

SINGAPORE — A former police officer allegedly breached the Official Secrets Act (OSA) by accessing a computer system in a police centre to obtain the NRIC of a person to hand to an outsider.

Sergeant Bryan Tay Wei Chuan had access to the Cubicon II system at Sembawang Neighbourhood Police Centre due to his position with the Singapore Police Force (SPF), his charge sheet read.

Tay, 29, is said to have obtained the information on 24 March 2020 at around 9.43am and given it to another man.

His case was heard on Monday (21 February), when he said he would be engaging a lawyer. His case will return to court on 14 March.

Apart from the OSA charge, Tay faces a two more charges over the same incident. One is under the Computer Misuse Act and the other under the Police Force Act.

He is said to have logged into the same system without authority, and conducted an unauthorised screening on the same person whose NRIC he had obtained. His charge sheet said that his conduct is "to the prejudice of good order and discipline of the SPF".

Interdicted from service in August last year

In relation to Tay’s case, an SPF spokesperson said that he was interdicted from service on 31 August last year, but has since resigned from the force on 3 October.

The spokesperson added that SPF initiated investigations against Tay after the offences surfaced.

“The use of all SPF systems is meant for official purposes only. Officers shall only access these systems for official work purposes and are not allowed to disclose information to any unauthorised person. The use of SPF systems is monitored and subjected to regular audits. Officers found misusing any SPF systems will be investigated,” the spokesperson said.

Under the Police Force Act, a police officer below the rank of inspector convicted of any of the disciplinary offences may be jailed up to six months, and/or fined up to $1,000.

If convicted of causing a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access without authority to any program or data held in any computer, he may be jailed up to two years and/or fined up to $5,000. If convicted of the charge under the OSA, he may be jailed up to two years and fined up to $2,000.

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