Former Traffic Police NSF fined for colluding with two others to access computer system without authorisation
Royce Phua Tai Da, 24, was fined S$3,000 for conspiring with two others to run an unauthorised search on a stranger’s NRIC number using the Traffic Police’s investigation computer system.
SINGAPORE — He conspired with two others to run an unauthorised search on a stranger’s NRIC number using the Traffic Police’s investigation computer system.
For his actions, Royce Phua Tai Da, 24, was fined S$3,000 by District Judge Kenneth Yap on Wednesday (Dec 19).
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with two other co-accused — Joshua Woon Wei Ke and Ivan Sim Jun Jie, both 23 — to access the system without authorisation. Another two counts involving similar offences were taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.
Woon and Sim’s cases are still before the courts.
The offence took place on July 14, 2016, when Phua was a full-time National Serviceman (NSF) with the Traffic Police. He was a staff assistant with the Traffic Police’s General Investigation Team.
He got to know Sim when they served National Service (NS) together, and became acquainted with Woon through Sim.
THE PLAN
In mid-2016, a friend of Woon’s, Mr Desmond Chu Guan Quan, confided in the former that he had some problems with his business partner and was worried that he could be implicated in criminal wrongdoings by this partner.
“Of his own accord, Woon decided to check (Mr Chu’s) criminal history to find out if (he) had indeed been implicated by his business partner,” Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tay Jingxi said.
Knowing he had no means to do so as he was not an NSF with the police, he asked Sim for help. Woon then passed Mr Chu’s NRIC number to Sim to check if he was involved in any police cases.
DPP Tay said Woon did this with the knowledge that such information was confidential and not accessible to the public.
While Sim agreed to help his friend, he had already completed NS and no longer had access to the computer system.
He then asked Phua for help and came up with a different reason this time, saying that Mr Chu had problems entering Singapore. He asked Phua to check if Mr Chu had “any outstanding cases” against him.
However, Phua had no access to the Singapore Police Force’s CRIMES-2 computer system which manages investigation workflow in criminal cases.
CRIMES-2 contains information such as investigation papers, statements recorded as part of investigations, as well as criminal history.
Phua then turned to another acquaintance, Joseph Yeo Peng Siong, for help as the latter had access to the system.
Phua told Mr Yeo — who has not been taken to court yet — that the screening was “for work-related purposes”, the court heard on Wednesday.
Mr Yeo did accordingly and Phua took a photograph of the results — which did not yield anything — and sent it to Sim, who then forwarded it to Woon.
The offence was discovered on Sept 30, 2016, when Woon was arrested by the police’s Specialised Crimes Branch for suspected illegal gambling activity.
When officers screened Woon’s phone, they saw a photo of the CRIMES-2 search done a few months ago.
FAIRLY SERIOUS MATTER: DISTRICT JUDGE
DPP Tay urged the court to impose a fine of S$3,000, saying that Phua “knew the limits” of what he could and could not access, “but chose to breach these limits”.
She noted that the offence was “fortuitously detected” when Woon was arrested for a separate offence.
Defence lawyer Selwyn Tan argued for a lower fine, saying that his client had “absolutely no personal gain” from the offence.
In sentencing Phua, DJ Yap said the issue of unauthorised access into the CRIMES-2 system was a “fairly serious matter”.
He also noted that the offence was “hard to track”. While the outcome of the unauthorised search was negative, DJ Yap said that when databases are “accessed improperly”, it can lead to a lot of other issues, such as privacy concerns.
For Phua, having served NS in the line of enforcement, “he should know well the dangers of (such actions)”, added the District Judge.
