Former ICA officer fined for making unauthorised checks on female foreigners

SINGAPORE - Claiming that he wanted to make more friends, an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Inspector performed multiple unauthorised checks on foreign women entering Singapore.

Yeo Kian Boon, 31, even called one of them and was caught after her Singaporean boyfriend complained to ICA about his antics.

Yeo, who is now employed as an administrative officer and is no longer working with ICA, was fined $29,000 on Tuesday (Dec 26). He pleaded guilty to six counts of performing unauthorised checks and one count of abetting a colleague to do so.

Sixteen other charges for similar offences were considered during sentencing.

Yeo, who used to be an ICA team leader at Changi Airport Terminal 1, had access to computer systems that are supposed to be used only for work purposes.

These systems include i-Borders @ Central, which can be used to access information such as a person's travel history and passport details; i-Borders @ DO, which can be used to decide whether to grant or refuse entry to a traveller, and the Web-based Central Server Inquiry System (Wise), which an officer can use to access a person's travel records.

On Tuesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Alexander Woon said Yeo's job was to supervise other ICA officers and deal with anyone they referred to him.

While on duty at the T1 Arrival Hall at 8.50pm on Dec 12, 2015, Yeo screened a Thai woman and allowed her to enter Singapore.

He added her on Line, a mobile communications application, the next day and began calling her through it. However, she did not answer his calls, the court heard.

On Dec 22, 2015, she made a video call to him to ascertain the identity of the person who had been trying to contact her. DPP Woon said that the woman was surprised to find out that Yeo was the ICA officer who had cleared her to enter Singapore.

Yeo also contacted one of his then colleagues, Mr Lau Jia Yi, and asked him to dig up the woman's details.

Mr Lau logged on to the i-Borders @ DO system at the airport's Terminal 2, obtained the information and sent it to Yeo via WhatsApp.

While on duty at T1 on Dec 27, 2015, Yeo accessed i-Borders @ Central and i-Borders @ DO to perform six unauthorised screenings on the Thai woman and other female travellers from Japan and South Korea. The Thai woman told her boyfriend about Yeo's overtures and he complained to ICA about Yeo in an e-mail the next day.

Yeo's lawyers, Mr Josephus Tan and Mr Cory Wong from Invictus Law, said in their mitigation plea that their client's intentions were "naive and innocent".

They added: "Kian Boon instructs that he is inept at interacting with the opposite sex and all he wanted to do was to build his confidence by chatting with women on Line."

The lawyers also told District Judge Jasvender Kaur that Mr Lau was given a warning in lieu of prosecution and has since resigned from ICA.

For each count of performing an unauthorised access, Yeo could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, an ICA spokesman said its officers are expected to discharge their duties professionally and maintain a high standard of integrity.

"We take a serious view of errant officers and those who break the law will be dealt with in accordance with the law. All officers are constantly reminded on the expected conduct and behaviour," said the spokesman.

"Advisories on offences, such as the misuse of IT systems, are also issued to the officers to reinforce the message that ICA has zero tolerance for such offences."