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10 Facts About the Saga Which an HDB Staff Gave Classified Info to a Girl He Met in Dating App

Boon Hun

2017-12-21 , 12:08 pm

Love is amazing. Loving someone is the greatest feeling in the world.

But at the same time, it might make you blind too.

Just like this young man we’re going to talk about.

Meet Mr Ng Han Yuan.

A 25-year-old chap working at HDB, all set to conquer the world. Then he breached the Official Secrets Act.

All for the sake of a girl.

Okay, I’ll admit that we were a bit late in writing about this but we needed some time to digest the news.

I mean, you’d have thought this would only happen in Korean dramas.

Here are 10 interesting facts about the HDB officer leaking confidential information case that makes this more exciting than Korean dramas.

1. Ng met ST Journalist, Janice Tai Jia Ling through dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel

Ng met his dream girl, Janice Tai Jia Ling, 29, through the dating app, Coffee Meets Bagel in Mar 2017.

Hitting it off, the pair kept in contact through WhatsApp and meet up once every couple of weeks.

They both knew each other’s occupation.

Ng’s lawyer, Mr Cheng, told the court that Ng had hopes of getting into a relationship with Tai.

2. Ng met Tai before he was assigned to the new project

According to reports, Ng was transferred to the team handling the project in April. At least he can take solace in the fact that he wasn’t approached because of his work.

It was just a lucky bonus for Tai.

3. He leaked confidential information to Tai on her birthday meetup

It was heard that the pair met up for drinks to celebrate Tai’s birthday on 31 May. It was then that he revealed confidential information regarding HDB’s new project.

The information includes the changes to the valuation process, cutting down of process time for resale transaction time and a new online portal.

4. He explicitly told her that the information is confidential & “no articles should be written on it”

Tai asked if she was allowed to run a story on the new project but he said she shouldn’t as the information was not revealed to the public.

After his court case, Ng told reporters that he thought “Tai was a personal friend and let his guard down”.

5. He gave more information to her a second time

On 16 July, Tai contacted Ng via WhatsApp to dig for more information about the project.

And so, he shared information about a new resale portal with her.

6. HDB suspected a leak within the organisation due to the actions of Tai

On 17 July, the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers alerted HDB to an email sent by Tai which contained very “specific questions” about the projects.

And as if that’s not bad enough, HDB itself received a similar email query containing said “specific questions” as well.

Suspecting that there was a leak within the organisation, HDB lodged a police report and an investigation was launched.

7. Two ST reporters questioned by the police, Tai locked up overnight at the station

On 10 Aug, Tai and another reporter went to Police Cantonment Complex for questioning.

The other reporter, which remained unnamed, was assigned by the editor to help Tai verify information, was released after two hours.

Tai was put into lockup at 6 pm and stayed overnight.

8. Tai asked Ng if she could identify him as her source

Initially, Tai told the police that she was unable to give up the name of her source as it goes against her ethics.

However, after knowing that he was identified from her phone, she asked if she could name him as her source.

Since they already knew anyway, right?

He agreed and she was released from lockup at about 3 pm on 11 Aug.

9. Janice Tai Jia Ling is 2007 Local SPH Scholar Recipient

Feeling curious about journalist Janice Tai Jia Ling, we decided to do some digging on her since her face was kept out of the reports.

The folks at HWZ has nicely provided a photo of her in their EDMW forum.

She was also an SPH local scholarship award recipient back in the year 2007.

If this doesn’t tell you she takes her career seriously, nothing will.

10. Ng given the maximum fine of $2,000 while Tai got off with a stern warning

After the entire saga, Ng was suspended by HDB pending his verdict while Tai got off with a stern warning from the police.

Tai still has the support of her organisation who said they are committed to good journalism and support their journalists who do their jobs on behalf of the paper.

Meanwhile, Ng, who was suspended pending the verdict of the case, remains suspended after the verdict was given.

HDB also said that it will take appropriate disciplinary action against him.

At least the poor guy had one thing going for him.

He thought he’ll be going to jail for this, turns out he got off with a fine.

Silver lining, bro.

Since you’re here, why not watch a video about a guy who lodged a Police report here in Singapore because he was friendzoned? Seriously. Here, watch it and do remember to share it (and also subscribe to Goody Feed YouTube channel)!

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com