HDB Executive Allegedly Leaked Info About HDB Inspections to Tenant; Both Charged Under OSA

It seems like all sorts of information are being leaked these days: COVID-19 numbers, government statements, customers’ details…

Now it seems like there’s a new addition to the Leak List: impending government inspections of HDB units. 

When will people get the message that divulging confidential government matters is just not advised, no matter the circumstances?

2 Men Charged Under Official Secrets Act

On 12 May, two men were charged in court under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) over the leak of information. 

54-year-old Kalayarasan Karuppaya had reportedly informed 22-year-old Damandeep Singh of an upcoming Housing Development Board (HDB) inspection of a HDB unit in Bukit Merah.

This did not only happen once, but instead happened thrice on three different occasions throughout 2019 in May, August, and September. 

Karuppaya was a higher state executive with the HDB. Having revealed information that he was not authorised to share, he faced three charges under the OSA.

Singh, who is a registered tenant of the unit, also faced three charges under the OSA due to receiving the information. According to a statement by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on 12 May, there was also the belief that this information communicated to him was in contravention of the OSA.  

If found guilty, both men can be sentenced up to two years’ jail and fined up to $2,000 for each charge. 

Both Karuppaya and Singh have been offered bail of $5,000 and $10,000 respectively. They are expected to return to court for a pre-trial conference on 8 June. 

The CPIB has made clear their strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and other criminal activities in Singapore. 

Other Cases of Being Charged Under the OSA

For many of you, this might not be the first time that you’ve heard about the OSA, especially with the recent cases concerning the COVID-19 situation. 

On 14 April, 36-year-old Zhao Zheng was charged under the OSA for leaking the daily COVID-19 case numbers to a WeChat group with 49 other members. Between March and April 2020, she had done this 22 times. 

Zhao was the deputy lead of a data management unit started by the Ministry of Health (MOH) as part of their COVID-19 response. She faced 24 charges under the OSA. 

In another case, a couple had been charged under the OSA over the leakage of a draft media statement regarding the COVID-19 situation by the government, which was confidential information. 

Then 38-year-old Noorain Jubli had been the personal assistant to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA)’s director-general, and had access to his email inbox. She had taken photos of the draft media statement at her husband, Khairul Annuar Zakaria’s request. Kahirul later leaked the information to a WhatsApp chat group.

The couple faced two charges each under the OSA. 

Feature Image: Google Maps