SINGAPORE: A prison warden was fined S$4,000 on Thursday (Mar 1) for accessing the records of an inmate without authorisation.
Former staff sergeant Firoz Khan Shaik Fazaluddin pleaded guilty to one charge under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act.
The 41-year-old said he had accessed the system because his colleague, then senior chief warder Kobi Krishna Ayavoo, had asked him to.
Kobi called Firoz on Jul 24, 2017 and told the staff sergeant to log onto PORTS, an inmate case management system, to find out the inmate number of a certain inmate.
Firoz knew Kobi had been interdicted on Jul 6, but was unaware he had been charged in court with corruption offences involving the inmate.
Then attached to Changi Prison’s Estate Management Office, Firoz knew he had no legitimate reason to access the system but did so anyway, knowing Kobi’s access had been taken away.
AdvertisementAdvertisementDefence lawyer Rabi Ahmad said Firoz had made a mistake in complying with the request, despite not knowing what the information would be used for or that it was linked to a corruption case involving the inmate.
Firoz then gave the inmate’s details to Kobi, who had been charged with attempting to obtain bribes of S$81,000 in cash and loans from the inmate.
The 50-year-old allegedly solicited the bribes in exchange for "facilitating" inmate Chong Keng Chye's transfer out of Changi Prison Cluster A1, court documents stated.
Kobi, who faces eight counts of corruption, allegedly tried to obtain loans of up to S$70,000 and cash amounting to S$11,000 between September 2015 and March 2016.
He has denied the charges and is expected to go on trial later this year.
For his offence, Firoz could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to S$5,000.
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