SINGAPORE: After a man was ambushed by police officers for driving without a licence, he got his friend who worked for the police to find out who had tipped them off by using the internal systems of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The informant turned out to be his ex-girlfriend, and he made a death threat against her.
The unauthorised access of MHA’s systems was uncovered, and the suspended traffic police officer, 29-year-old Singaporean Shivasuria Maniam Kesaval, was jailed for 16 months on Thursday (Jul 2).
He had contested the charges but was convicted of four counts under the Computer Misuse Act for performing unauthorised screenings and one count under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
The driver, 25-year-old Singaporean Brayden Ong Ying Shan, absconded after being convicted of various charges, including criminal intimidation and a warrant of arrest was issued against him in June.
THE CASE
Shivasuria and Ong had been friends since 2019, and Ong knew that Shivasuria was a traffic police officer.
On Jul 12, 2022, Ong was arrested by two traffic police officers in an ambush. His vehicle was towed away to an impound lot, and Ong called Shivasuria to tell him he had been apprehended.
Shivasuria disclosed to his colleague that Ong was his friend.
He accessed MHA’s systems and made searches in relation to Ong’s case, uncovering personal information and an original report made by Ong’s ex-girlfriend.
She had reported him for driving without a valid licence on Jul 2, 2022.
Shivasuria met Ong multiple times after finding out about the case, and during one meeting, Ong told his ex-girlfriend that he knew what the incident creation time for the case was.
He also told her that he would murder whoever reported him to the police, sending her a photo of Shivasuria.
He said: “I got a TP friend that is high ranking.” He also instructed his ex-girlfriend to provide the names of her family members, insinuating that he would have Shivasuria perform checks on them to see if one of them was the culprit.
Ong also told another friend that his “recent ex-girlfriend” had made the report against him, sending a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation between him and Shivasuria.
Ong attempted suicide on Jul 24, 2022, and was taken to hospital, where Shivasuria visited him.
The police later caught wind of Shivasuria’s involvement and investigated him before suspending him.
At trial, both men were unrepresented and denied the offences. Shivasuria claimed, among other things, that his superior had given him permission for the searches so he could help in the investigation against Ong.
Ong argued that he did not intend to threaten his ex-girlfriend, since he did not know the identity of the person who had reported him to the police.
He added that the woman could not have been scared by the threat, as she continued to be in a relationship with him even after that.
District Judge Lim Tse Haw convicted them both of the charges against them, saying that they were not credible witnesses and that they “could not even get their stories straight”.
Judge Lim said Ong could have just confronted his ex-girlfriend with the approximate timing of his arrest, but decided to engage Shivasuria’s help to confirm his suspicion that it was she who had reported him to the police.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jeremy Bin sought at least 19 months’ jail for Shivasuria.
He said both men had demonstrated “not one iota of remorse”, lying repeatedly in court and casting aspersions on the police and prosecution, “alleging misconduct by virtually every public servant”.
A hearing to review Ong’s warrant of arrest has been fixed for Jul 14.
CNA has contacted the police for any updated information on Shivasuria post-conviction.
For breaching the OSA, Shivasuria could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to S$2,000.
The punishment for illegally accessing data held in a computer system is a jail term of up to two years, a fine of up to S$5,000 or both for a first-time offender.