Ex-UOB employee pleads guilty to giving customers' details to loan shark

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SINGAPORE: A former compliance officer at United Overseas Bank (UOB) on Wednesday (Nov 25) pleaded guilty to giving customers’ details to an unlicensed moneylender.

Koh Chee Tong, 30, is facing four charges under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act. Another 20 charges will be taken into consideration during his sentencing.

After landing himself S$16,000 in debt due to a gambling habit, Koh borrowed money from the loan shark, identified as “Ah King”, to tide himself over, the court heard.

But when he was unable to repay the moneylender, “Ah King” became unhappy and threatened to vandalise his house, Koh’s lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan told the court. “Ah King” also caused distress to Koh’s neighbours by damaging their property when Koh failed to meet his demands for more money, Mr Kalidass said.

Desperate, Koh agreed to provide “Ah King” with the particulars and contact details of potential debtors, which he obtained via the bank’s customer database.

“Ah King” used these details to attempt to expand his customer base, by contacting these UOB customers and offering them loans. UOB customers lodged at least two police reports after receiving harassing phone calls from “Ah King”.

ACTIONS ‘COMPROMISED INTEGRITY OF BANKING SECTOR’: PROSECUTION

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sanjiv Vaswani said Koh’s actions had “gone against the very nature of his work” as a compliance officer. Koh was tasked with identifying accounts which were suspected of having been used for illegal moneylending activities. His actions amounted to “a clear abuse of his position … and trust reposed in him”, the DPP said.

In urging the court to impose six months’ jail, DPP Vaswani said a custodial sentence is warranted, as Koh’s offences “compromised the integrity of the banking sector”. “Confidence in the integrity of the banking and finance sector is of grave importance for Singapore as any shortcomings could potentially have crippling effects on the country’s economy”, DPP Vaswani said.

“Clients trust banks with their information … any such information entrusted to the bank is not meant to be divulged by anyone, much less an insider of the bank, for his own personal benefit,” the DPP added.

“Given the huge potential for compliance officers to compromise computer systems of their employers, a strong message must be sent that not only will such action not be condoned, they will be dealt with severely.”

KOH CAUSED NO ACTUAL HARM: DEFENCE

Mr Kalidass said Koh had agreed to provide “Ah King” with the details of UOB customers because it was the “least onerous option”. “Ah King” had at first suggested that Koh apply for multiple ATM cards from various banks, or to act as a runner and harass other debtors.

Mr Kalidass told the court that Koh had chosen to disclose the details of financially-secure customers whom he thought would have no need for an illegal loan, essentially “frustrating” Ah King’s efforts to expand his customer base.

Koh was in fact successful at stonewalling “Ah King’s” efforts, the court heard. After contacting the 10 customers with the details from Koh and getting rejected when he offered them loans, Ah King disclosed Koh’s identity to them “with malicious intent”, exposing him to prosecution, Mr Kalidass told the court.

Mr Kalidass said a high fine would be sufficient punishment, telling the court that his client was genuinely remorseful, and that he had committed the offences “in a moment of folly”, pointing out that no actual harm was caused to the victims. “This is a peculiar case,” Mr Kalidass said, and emphasised that Koh “deliberately chose persons with a sound financial background when selecting names from the bank’s database”, in the belief that they were less likely to require an illegal loan from “Ah King”.

The lawyer also said that despite having access to the customers’ addresses, Koh did not provide these to the loan shark. Mr Kalidass also said "Ah King" had asked Koh to provide the details of 2,000 customers and that Koh decided to leave the bank after the loan shark “appeared bent on obtaining the particulars of more people from him”. Mr Kalidass added that his client had tried seek help from the authorities but to no avail, and that Koh had made several police reports.

DPP Vaswani disputed this, calling for evidence to be brought before the court. Judge Jasvender Kaur adjourned the matter till Jan 4, 2016, for both the prosecution and defence to clarify some points. Judge Kaur is also expected to sentence Koh that day.

Koh could face up to two years’ jail and/or fined S$5,000 per charge.

- CNA/vc

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/....html?cid=fbsg


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