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Man jailed for selling client lists
By Khushwant Singh
AN ENVELOPE with the name of the bank blacked out gave the game away.
Mahesalingam Kanasalingam, then a customer service manager at United Overseas Bank, and his accomplice had used its pre-paid envelopes to save on mailing costs for their fliers. The fliers, sent to businesses such as spa chains and insurers, offered to sell names and contact details of the bank's high net-worth clients which Mahesalingam had downloaded.
But a recipient grew suspicious, noting that UOB's return address on the envelope had been blacked out with a marker pen.
The bank was informed. Arrangements were made for the recipient to buy a list of 250 names for $500 in November 2008. The names were found to match those in the bank's customer database.
Mahesalingam, 30, was yesterday jailed 41/2 months for violating bank secrecy laws and fined $1,000 for stealing the envelopes.
A district court heard that he had downloaded and tried to sell the personal particulars of the bank's customers. His accomplice was Lucas Lin Han Tian, 29.
Lin, a former Standard Chartered Bank personal financial consultant, was jailed for a month last June for violating bank secrecy laws by disclosing the names of his bank's clients. He was also fined $10,000 for selling the personal data of UOB clients, which he got from Mahesalingam.
The two had set up Dynamic Events in 2008, purportedly to organise events. Instead, they wrote to firms using Dynamic's letterhead, offering to sell mailing lists of rich folk at $3 per head.
Mahesalingam had transferred these lists from UOB's system to his own hard-disk drive. At home, he would copy these files to his computer and gave copies to Lin. When investigators closed in, he threw away the hard-disk drive. He claimed trial to the charge of destroying evidence but was found guilty on Feb 14.
He pleaded guilty on March 8 to 10 charges of disclosing confidential customer information to Lin and two charges of accessing the data without authority. He also admitted to stealing 2,070 envelopes from UOB.
Pleading for a lenient sentence, defence counsel Surian Sidambaram said his client, now working for a fire safety firm, was remorseful about his first brush with the law.
Stressing the seriousness of violating bank secrecy laws, Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi said it was fortunate the deceit was discovered after a recipient checked with the bank about the envelope.
For disclosing confidential information, Mahesalingam could have been fined up to $125,000 and/or jailed up to three years. The maximum penalty for theft is a $10,000 fine and a three-year jail term. For destruction of evidence, it is a $10,000 fine and two-year jail term.
By Khushwant Singh
AN ENVELOPE with the name of the bank blacked out gave the game away.
Mahesalingam Kanasalingam, then a customer service manager at United Overseas Bank, and his accomplice had used its pre-paid envelopes to save on mailing costs for their fliers. The fliers, sent to businesses such as spa chains and insurers, offered to sell names and contact details of the bank's high net-worth clients which Mahesalingam had downloaded.
But a recipient grew suspicious, noting that UOB's return address on the envelope had been blacked out with a marker pen.
The bank was informed. Arrangements were made for the recipient to buy a list of 250 names for $500 in November 2008. The names were found to match those in the bank's customer database.
Mahesalingam, 30, was yesterday jailed 41/2 months for violating bank secrecy laws and fined $1,000 for stealing the envelopes.
A district court heard that he had downloaded and tried to sell the personal particulars of the bank's customers. His accomplice was Lucas Lin Han Tian, 29.
Lin, a former Standard Chartered Bank personal financial consultant, was jailed for a month last June for violating bank secrecy laws by disclosing the names of his bank's clients. He was also fined $10,000 for selling the personal data of UOB clients, which he got from Mahesalingam.
The two had set up Dynamic Events in 2008, purportedly to organise events. Instead, they wrote to firms using Dynamic's letterhead, offering to sell mailing lists of rich folk at $3 per head.
Mahesalingam had transferred these lists from UOB's system to his own hard-disk drive. At home, he would copy these files to his computer and gave copies to Lin. When investigators closed in, he threw away the hard-disk drive. He claimed trial to the charge of destroying evidence but was found guilty on Feb 14.
He pleaded guilty on March 8 to 10 charges of disclosing confidential customer information to Lin and two charges of accessing the data without authority. He also admitted to stealing 2,070 envelopes from UOB.
Pleading for a lenient sentence, defence counsel Surian Sidambaram said his client, now working for a fire safety firm, was remorseful about his first brush with the law.
Stressing the seriousness of violating bank secrecy laws, Deputy Public Prosecutor Hon Yi said it was fortunate the deceit was discovered after a recipient checked with the bank about the envelope.
For disclosing confidential information, Mahesalingam could have been fined up to $125,000 and/or jailed up to three years. The maximum penalty for theft is a $10,000 fine and a three-year jail term. For destruction of evidence, it is a $10,000 fine and two-year jail term.
