Crime | Police officer arrested for leaking information to usury groups

A Judiciary Police (PJ) chief investigator has been arrested for allegedly leaking information about police investigations to several criminal groups.

The accused, a gaming crime investigator, is 40 years old and began serving the PJ in 2006.

In January, the PJ received reports about the accused’s behavior, and it was later discovered that he was giving information to usury groups as ordered by the groups’ masterminds.

The accused attempted to use his colleague’s computer to check on documents and past case files related to usury cases but failed to access fellow investigators’ computers, as they were password-protected.

According to the PJ during a media briefing on Friday, the accused has already admitted to his crimes, but refused to disclose the reasons behind his actions.

Lei Hon Nei, spokesperson of the PJ said, “the accused told his co-workers that he was in charge of those cases, asking to check relevant information. But his action drew suspicion from other colleagues, who reported it to their superiors,” she explained, as cited in a TDM report.

“Through this internal monitoring mechanism, we discovered that the accused’s actions matched the tip-off,” the spokesperson added.

The PJ noted that it remains unknown how many organizations the accused has worked for and whether he is in debt.

Currently, The PJ believes that the accused is involved in three usury cases, which occured in March. The PJ does not exclude the possibility of the officer being involved in other cases. The suspect is believed to have acted alone.

Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, said that PJ is highly focused on the case and will not tolerate illegal conduct.

According to Wong, when asked about whether the leaked information might affect related usury cases, Wong believes that PJ will act quickly by carrying out an investigation.

Wong also claimed that the police would continuously review, evaluate and improve its internal supervision mechanism.