Prison officer faces data misuse charges

Chief warder allegedly instigated colleagues to illegally access data from prison system

Kobi Krishna Ayavoo, a senior chief warder, could be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to two years for computer misuse.

A senior chief warder who has been charged with eight counts of trying to obtain bribes from an inmate was accused of two fresh charges of computer misuse yesterday.

Kobi Krishna Ayavoo, 50, is alleged to have abetted prison officer Firoz Khan Shaik Fazaluddin, 41, by instigating the staff sergeant to secure unauthorised access to data held in the computer system of the Singapore Prison Service.

The case allegedly involves the access of the data of inmate Chong Keng Chye in the Prisons Operations and Rehabilitation System (Ports) on July 24.

Kobi Krishna also allegedly abetted chief warder Mohamed Sarraj Shadul Hameed the same day to similarly access data in Ports for "unspecified information".

Earlier in July, Kobi Krishna was hauled to court to face charges of corruptly attempting to get loans of up to $70,000 and cash amounting to $11,000 from Chong to facilitate his request to transfer to a different prison institution.

The alleged offences occurred in Changi Prison between September 2015 and March last year.

Kobi Krishna, who is represented by Mr S. Balamurugan, will return to court on Dec 21.

Firoz Khan was charged yesterday with knowingly causing a computer to perform a function for securing access without authority to data held in the prison's computer system by viewing Chong's personal particulars.

He told the court that he wishes to plead guilty and engage a lawyer. He will be back in court on Dec 7.

Chong, a 48-year-old convicted child batterer, is behind bars for 20 years for one of the worst child abuse cases seen in Singapore.

He was sentenced to the maximum period of preventive detention and nine strokes of the cane in October 2005 for abusing his girlfriend's seven-year-old son for more than seven months until his death on June 3, 1999, and for cheating five people of $300,000.

Chong forced the boy to go around naked at home. At times, he would force him to eat his own faeces. At least once, he dripped hot wax on the boy's testicles, claiming it would cure him of his supposed "ailments". The boy had more than 140 injuries, including spinal fractures, bleeding in the brain and other injuries that appeared to stem from cigarette burns and cuts.

Chong, a convicted cheat and armed robber, also abused the boy's two sisters.

The boy's mother, then 40, who has a low IQ, was sentenced to four years and seven months' jail in 2004.

If convicted, Kobi Krishna and Firoz Khan could be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to two years each for computer misuse. The maximum penalty for corruption is a $100,000 fine and five years in jail.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 24, 2017, with the headline Prison officer faces data misuse charges. Subscribe