A senior investigator of the Judiciary Police (PJ) was arrested on Monday for looking up and leaking internal confidential police information, according to a statement from the Judiciary Police yesterday.
The 50-year-old local male suspect surnamed Ieong began working for the Judiciary Police in 1996. At the time of his arrest, Ieong was a senior criminal investigator.
According to the statement, the Judiciary Police arrested 71 suspects (60 men and 11 women aged between 23 and 65) on February 23, 2019 for their alleged involvement in a loan-sharking gang controlled by a triad organisation. The Judiciary Police later in 2019 arrested two PJ criminal investigators for their alleged involvement in the case.
The statement emphasised that the Judiciary Police attaches high importance to the case and are continuing their investigations. While investigating the loan-sharking case, PJ officers discovered that Ieong had taken advantage of his position as a criminal investigator to look up internal confidential police information between January 2017 and December 2018 and that he had disclosed the information to one of the criminal investigators who was arrested in 2019 for his alleged involvement in the case.
The statement said that the Judiciary Police took action on Monday and arrested Ieong while he was at work. He was taken away for questioning. According to the statement, Ieong denied breaking the law.
Ieong has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of abuse of power and breach of confidentiality, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary Police expressed their distress and regret about the case, stressing that they attach great importance to their staff ethics, and all breaches of laws and regulations by their officers will be dealt with seriously and will not be tolerated, adding that the Judiciary Police have opened a disciplinary investigation as well as a criminal investigation.
