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Two 36-year-old women will be charged on April 14, 2021 for offences under the Official Secrets Act and Computer Misuse Act.

On April 16, 2020, the police had received a report from a member of the public about a leak in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, even though the Ministry of Health had not made an official release that day.

Civil servant leaked Covid-19 numbers on 22 occasions

One of the 36-year-old women, who was a civil servant, had allegedly shared the number of new Covid-19 cases on 22 occasions between March and April 2020 in a private chat group.

She was an authorised recipient of confidential information on Covid-19, the other members of the chat were not.

Some members of the chat group allegedly further disseminated it before MOH officially released the information.

The woman will be charged for wrongful communication of information under Section 5(1) of the Official Secrets Act.

64 others who had wrongfully received and/or communicated the information will be issued with stern warnings or written advisories for offences under the Official Secrets Act.

Checked Covid-19 database illegally

Investigations also revealed that the other 36-year-old woman, who was a member of the chat group, had allegedly asked the civil servant to check on the case status of a patient who had tested positive for Covid-19.

The civil servant then allegedly accessed a Government Covid-19 database to retrieve confidential records to provide the information to the woman.

For accessing the Government Covid-19 database for this unlawful purpose, the civil servant will be charged for unauthorised access to computer materials under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act.

The other woman will be charged for soliciting wrongful communication of information, along with other offences of wrongful communication of information under Section 5(1) of the Official Secrets Act.

The offence of wrongful communication of information under Section 5(1) of the Official Secrets Act is punishable under Section 17(2) of the Official Secrets Act, which carries a fine of up to S$2,000 and imprisonment of up to two years.

Unauthorised recipients should delete and not further circulate any confidential information received, as they may otherwise be similarly liable under the Official Secrets Act.

The offence of unauthorised access to computer materials under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act carries a fine of up to S$5,000 and imprisonment of up to two years.

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