Choo, 40, faces 52 charges of using the company's electronic mail server to gain unauthorised access to the electronic mailbox over a period of four days in December 2007.

He is said to have committed the offences at two locations - a condominium in Rhu Cross around the Kallang Basin and a house in Taman Permata off Thomson Road.

Choo was represented by lawyer Michael Loh at Friday's hearing and is due back in court on July 10. He is out on $25,000 bail.

Choo joined the firm - a Singapore Press Holdings subsidiary involved in advertising - in the second half of 2005 and left the company in February 2007.

If found guilty of the offences under the Computer Misuse Act, Choo could be fined a maximum of $5,000 or jailed up to two years, or both, on each of the 52 charges.