The Police will be charging a 25-year-old male Housing & Development Board (HDB) officer in Court on 10 November 2017 with wrongfully communicating confidential information, an offence under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
On 27 July 2017, the Police were alerted by HDB to a suspected case of wrongful communication of confidential information. This was after HDB had received media queries from a Straits Times (ST) reporter on a new initiative, the HDB Resale Portal. The queries had contained information on the initiative which had not been made public at that point in time.
Police investigations revealed that in May 2017, the HDB officer had shared confidential information with the ST reporter on the new HDB Resale Portal. In July 2017, the ST reporter approached several parties with enquiries relating to the confidential information. For her actions, the Police have issued the ST reporter with a stern warning.
The Government takes a serious view of the wrongful communication of confidential information, especially if the party involved is a public officer, and will not hesitate to take action.
Anyone convicted for the offence of wrongfully communicating confidential information under Section 5(1)(e) read with Section 5(1)(i) of the OSA, Chapter 213, may be punished with a fine not exceeding $2,000 and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
10 November 2017 @ 12:00 AM