A National Library Board (NLB) project manager has been slapped with a jail term and a fine for breaching the library database to obtain information for a loan shark, according to a Straits Times report.
Ang Boon Sin, now 39, repeatedly accessed information on NLB’s Spydus database — which stores names, NRIC numbers, addresses and phone numbers — to hand them over to a loan shark known only as Johnson, who has yet to be identified till today.
An NLB employee for six years, Ang pleaded guilty on Monday to 10 counts of making unauthorised access to computer material, nine counts for assisting an unlicensed moneylender and one count of removing the benefits of Johnson’s criminal conduct in 2015. 463 other offences were considered during sentencing.
It was revealed that Ang had been facing financial difficulties from 2001 to 2014, and sought Johnson’s services for a loan of $5,000, which he was unable to return. He added that sometime in March, the accused was offered a proposition to work as his runner, with a portion of the Ang’s debt waived in that he would no longer have to pay a weekly interest of $2,500 and could pay the remaining $1,000 monthly over a period of 10 months. Ang accepted the offer and worked for Johnson’s syndicate.
Johnson told Ang he wanted his debtors’ contact numbers and updated addresses so that he could send runners after them or call them up in case they became uncontactable, as well as neighbours’ and employers’ particulars to ascertain the whereabouts of the said debtors. Ang conducted these searches during 8-10pm in his home after work.
Additionally, Ang also accessed Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore’s (IRAS) myTaxPortal and Central Provident Fund Board’s (CPF) my cpf Online Services to gather information for Johnson.
District Judge Wong Li Tien said that Ang had done the NLB “a great disservice” by seriously abusing his power and exposing personal information to loan sharks, which could send “a chill down the spine” of some 2.4 million NLB members who make up almost half the population.
Ang was given a jail term of three years and eight months, plus a $270,000 fine. He could have been jailed 4 years and fined between $30,000 and $300,000 for each count of assisting an unlicensed moneylender.
