Vietnam woman, 37, sentenced to jail for OSA offence, fined S$1,500 instead after appeal in S'pore high court

In April 2026, a Vietnamese woman who was sentenced to one week's jail back in Jul. 10, 2025, after she obtained information on her husband from a then-senior police inspector, with whom she later had a sexual relationship, had her sentence repealed.

According to Shin Min, the woman, who is also a Singapore permanent resident, received a S$1,500 fine instead.

According to a press release by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on Sep. 24, then-inspector Chan Zhiyao and Tran Thi Tien had reportedly used the computer to retrieve information pertaining to an undisclosed individual in an unauthorised manner.

The individual was her then-husband.

According to The Straits Times (ST), Chan was assigned to investigate a case of child abuse involving Tien and her then-husband.

On Dec. 9, she told Chan that her husband had supposedly stolen a person’s phone at Tan Tock Seng Hospital back in 2016, and asked for Chan's help to obtain information. He did and sent her the number via WhatsApp.

According to ST, the woman then entered a sexual relationship with a police inspector and loaned him S$2,000 after he illegally helped her obtain information about her then-husband’s theft case.

According to Shin Min, the Vietnamese woman, who was undergoing divorce proceedings, had told Chan she wanted to pass the information to her lawyer.

She was then sentenced to a week in jail in 2025 after she pleaded guilty to an offence under the Official Secrets Act, but appealed the sentence and successfully escaped imprisonment, receiving a fine of S$1,500 instead.

The High Court judge had deemed the prison sentence too harsh.

Image from Shin Min and Google Maps