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New citizens from China charged for sharing secret information

A Singaporean

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Former deputy lead of MOH data unit charged under Official Secrets Act with leaking Singapore's COVID-19 case tally 22 times



SingaporeFormer deputy lead of MOH data unit charged under Official Secrets Act with leaking Singapore's COVID-19 case tally 22 times
Zhao Zheng at the State Courts on Apr 14, 2021. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
By Lydia Lam
14 Apr 2021 10:10AM(Updated: 14 Apr 2021 10:20AM)
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SINGAPORE: A woman charged in court on Wednesday (Apr 14) with leaking Singapore's daily COVID-19 case numbers 22 times last year to a private group chat was the deputy lead of the Data Management Unit set up by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Zhao Zheng, 36, was the unit's deputy lead at the time of the offences and an authorised recipient of confidential information on COVID-19. The police arrested her in April last year during the "circuit breaker" period for allegedly leaking the daily COVID-19 case numbers before they were officially released.

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On Wednesday, Zhao was given 24 charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for wrongful communication of information that she had access to due to her position.
She was charged along with co-accused Tang Lin, also 36, who was given 10 charges under the OSA.
Tang is accused of soliciting wrongful communication of information by asking Zhao to help her check on the status of a patient who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Zhao is suspected of accessing a Government COVID-19 database to retrieve confidential records of a person who had tested positive for COVID-19, and giving the information to a friend, the police said
 

laksaboy

Alfrescian (Inf)
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Hanyu pinyin Chinese names not necessarily Tiongs... just look at the Familee brats' names. :wink:
 

Papsmearer

Alfrescian (InfP) - Comp
Generous Asset
Why is covid case numbers a state secret? That fucking ridiculous, like North Korea. Its should be made public knowledge
 

dredd

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Why is covid case numbers a state secret? That fucking ridiculous, like North Korea. Its should be made public knowledge
Agreed. Like this also crime? What harm can come to who by just letting people know the number of cases? This is a head scratcher...:thumbsdown:
 

bobby

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Anything that they do not want you to know...is considered a state secret eg Ho Ching's celery.
 

mojito

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Agreed. Like this also crime? What harm can come to who by just letting people know the number of cases? This is a head scratcher...:thumbsdown:
Secret means secret. You can disagree what should be secret but a leak must be punished! Probably a small fine no jail sentence. :cool:
 

Cottonmouth

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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...-lead-osa-covid-19-case-numbers-leak-14615394

Former deputy lead of MOH data unit charged under OSA for leaking Singapore's COVID-19 numbers 22 times
Zhao Zheng at the State Courts on Apr 14, 2021. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
By Lydia Lam@LydiaLamCNA
14 Apr 2021 10:10AM(Updated: 14 Apr 2021 11:34AM)
Bookmark
SINGAPORE: A woman charged in court on Wednesday (Apr 14) with leaking Singapore's daily COVID-19 case numbers on 22 occasions last year to a private group chat was the deputy lead of the Data Management Unit set up by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Zhao Zheng, 36, was the unit's deputy lead at the time of the offences and an authorised recipient of confidential information on COVID-19. The police arrested her in April last year during the "circuit breaker" period for allegedly leaking the daily COVID-19 case numbers before they were officially released.

On Wednesday, Zhao was given more than 20 charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for wrongful communication of information that she had access to due to her position, and unauthorised access to a computer to obtain confidential information.
She allegedly sent information of COVID-19-positive cases for the day to a WeChat group with 49 other members on 22 occasions in March and April last year, before MOH had officially released the information. The members of the private chat group were not authorised to receive the information, the police said on Tuesday.
Charge sheets also state that she accessed an Excel document titled "master" on Mar 28, 2020, to obtain confidential details of a COVID-19 case in order to inform co-accused Tang Lin of the status of the case without authorisation.
Zhao's lawyer, Diana Ngiam from Quahe Woo & Palmer, told the court that "it was unprecedented times" and her client was "under immense pressure".



Tang Lin (left) at the State Courts on Apr 14, 2021. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)

Tang, also 36, was given 10 charges under the OSA.
She is accused of soliciting Zhao to send information to her on Mar 28 last year, by asking her to check on the case status of a person who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Tang is also accused of sending confidential information on the number of COVID-19 cases to a WhatsApp chat group containing five other members on nine occasions between Mar 26 and Apr 16 last year.

Both Zhao and Tang will return to court next month.
64 OTHERS GIVEN WARNINGS, ADVISORIES
A member of the public lodged a report on Apr 16 that the number of COVID-19 cases for that day had been published on an Instagram story post, even though MOH had not officially released its figures for the day.
Investigations found that after Zhao allegedly shared the COVID-19 daily numbers in the private chat group, some of those members went on to disseminate the information before it was officially released by MOH.
Sixty-four people who had wrongfully received or communicated the information will be given stern warnings or written advisories for offences under the OSA, the police said on Tuesday.

Tang Lin (right) at the State Courts on Apr 14, 2021. (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)

The police said they take a serious view of any breach of the OSA, which is punishable with up to two years' jail and a fine of up to S$2,000.
"Unauthorised recipients should delete and not further circulate any confidential information received, as they may otherwise be similarly liable under the Official Secrets Act," said the police.
The two women are the first to be charged among people who were arrested for leaking COVID-19-related information.
READ: 2 arrested under Official Secrets Act for leak of MOE, MSF statement on schools closure, move to home-based learning
A public servant and her husband were arrested in early April last year for allegedly circulating a draft of a joint media statement announcing that schools were moving into full home-based learning and that pre-schools and student care centres would be closed to curb the spread of the pandemic.
In June 2020, a 50-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of leaking classified information on the resumption of activities as part of Phase 2 of Singapore's reopening.
 

LITTLEREDDOT

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Most Sinkies, new citizens and PRs, are not aware of the Official Secrets Act. When they join the civil service, were they informed of the OSA? Did the HR or department head brief them on the OSA? If not, then the employer is partly to blame.
 

LITTLEREDDOT

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Tharman Shanmugaratnam was charged and convicted under the OSA but he went on to become Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore.

There is hope for Zhao Zheng and Tang Lin! :smile:
But they must join the right political party and start carrying balls and sucking cocks in order to revive and fast-track their careers.
 
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