Public servant arrested under OSA over leak of COVID-19 curbs for sport and physical activities 

SINGAPORE: A 32-year-old man has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for allegedly leaking information about COVID-19 measures for sport and physical activities to a WhatsApp chat group. 

The police said they received a report May 18 that information about the suspension of sport, physical activity classes and programmes catering to children and youth aged 18 years and below from May 19 until Jun 13 had been leaked to the public.

This occurred before the information was officially released by Sport Singapore, the police said in a news release on Sunday (May 30). 

"Preliminary investigations revealed that the man, who is a public servant and an authorised recipient of the safe management measures for sport and physical activities, had allegedly shared the information via WhatsApp on May 16 with members of a private WhatsApp chat group who were not authorised to receive the classified information," said the police. 

The information was further disseminated by other members from the chat group, resulting in the wider circulation of the classified information before it was officially released. 

Since the start of the pandemic, at least six people have been charged under the OSA for unauthorised or wrongful communication of information.

In May, a Housing and Development Board officer was among two men charged over unauthorised communication of information about flat inspections. 

Kalayarasan Karuppaya, a higher estate executive with HDB at the time of the offences, had allegedly leaked information on HDB’s impending inspections of a flat at Kim Tian Road to Damandeep Singh, a registered tenant of the unit.

Kalayarasan was not authorised to communicate the information to Damandeep, but allegedly did so on three occasions in May, August and September 2019.

Chua Wee Lin, who at the time held the position of deputy director at the National Library Board's property and facilities management department, was also charged in May with sending information about Phase 2 reopening measures to a WhatsApp chat group with 18 other members in it.

In April, a couple was charged with leaking an unreleased statement about school closures during the COVID-19 "circuit breaker" last year.

Noorain Jubli, who was the personal assistant to the SFA director-general at the time of the offences, was charged with two counts of wrongful communication of information. SFA suspended her from her duties in April 2020.

Her husband Khairul Annuar Zakaria was also given two charges under the OSA for wrongful communication and soliciting information.

That same month, Zhao Zheng, then deputy lead of MOH's Data Management Unit, was given more than 20 charges after she allegedly leaked the daily COVID-19 case numbers before they were officially released to a private group chat on 22 occasions in 2020.

Those found guilty of wrongful communication of information under the OSA face a fine of up to S$2,000 and up to two years’ jail.

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