Former deputy lead of MOH data unit jailed for OSA offences by leaking Singapore's COVID-19 numbers

SINGAPORE: A former deputy lead of the Data Management Unit set up by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to combat the COVID-19 pandemic leaked the daily number of COVID-19 cases to a chat group of 50 people, even offering a small prize to those who managed to predict the figures.

Zhao Zheng, a 37-year-old Singapore citizen, was sentenced to 18 weeks' jail on Tuesday (Feb 22). She pleaded guilty to 12 charges, mostly for wrongful communication of information under the Official Secrets Act. Another 12 charges were taken into consideration.

The court heard that Zhao was working as an assistant director of the Biostatistics and Research Branch of the Public Health Division of MOH before the pandemic broke out.

She signed an undertaking in July 2008 to safeguard official information and had her attention drawn to the Official Secrets Act (OSA). She acknowledged that she understood and agreed that all official information sent to her in the course of her duties were of a strictly secret and confidential nature.

When MOH's COVID-19 operations began sometime in February 2020, Zhao was deployed to be the deputy lead of the Data Management Unit. For her appointment, she was given access to a "SharePoint" folder on the MOH Intranet that contained documents and spreadsheets used by the ministry in its COVID-19 operations.

These included a spreadsheet titled "master" that collated information including the gender, nationality and address of COVID-19 cases in Singapore, as well as a spreadsheet for each confirmed COVID-19 case, containing more biodata of the individual as well as their movements and activity patterns.

Zhao was able to determine how many COVID-19 cases there were in Singapore on a given day, prior to the information being released to the public by MOH, and she could find out the profile of each case.

From as early as Mar 16, 2020, Zhao began sharing the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in a WeChat group containing 49 other members, who were mothers. She told them not to disseminate the information as she knew she was not supposed to share such information.

She also occasionally shared other details, such as how many cases were imported cases.

On some days, she played a "guessing game" with the members of the group chat. The members would guess how many confirmed COVID-19 cases there were that day, and Zhao would congratulate the person who came the closest to the correct figure. On some occasions, she sent the winner 1 yuan (S$0.21) as a "good luck" gift.

Zhao also retrieved information for a member of the chat group, Tang Lin, who wanted to know more about a COVID-19 case at her condominium. Tang was fined S$10,000 in August last year for her involvement.

THE IMPACT OF HER ACTIONS

The head of MOH's Case Reporting Team lodged a police report on Apr 18, 2020, stating that the ministry suspected that the daily number of COVID-19 cases for a few days in April 2020 had been leaked.

Zhao prematurely sharing the information caused public agencies involved in the fight against COVID-19 to redirect resources to deal with the consequences of the leak, the prosecutors said.

Because Singapore's fight against COVID-19 involved inter-agency cooperation, multiple agencies expended resources, including to assess if the leaks were true, where they had originated from, and who had access to the files.

As a result of the leaks, the public service had to adjust its approach in dealing with the pandemic, including ringfencing certain processes, which reduced the speed of information flow between agencies while investigations were ongoing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim asked for six to nine months' jail for Zhao, saying that the premature release of COVID-19 related information has myriad implications.

"They can signal increased restrictions. The perception of an impending tightening of other measures can have large economic significance on the markets, retailers, employers and travellers," he said.

The nature of the information Zhao leaked was sensitive, as it was information the public had a significant interest in, and there was "anxiety surrounding the numbers", he said. The leaks for the proceeded charges took place just before the unprecedented "circuit breaker" and during its first few days, said Mr Lim.

"It is important that such sensitive information is made public in a manner that would not cause panic to the population at large. Such panic can be seen in persons crowding supermarkets in anticipation of measures, and exacerbating the risk of transmission," he added.

Zhao also stood in a position of substantial trust, responsibility and accountability, given her position within the organisation and her access to the data, said Mr Lim.

She was "cavalier with the data leaked", playing a "guessing game" with the chat group members, and leaked the information on multiple occasions.

SHE "EMPATHISED WITH FELLOW MOTHERS": DEFENCE

Defence lawyer Diana Ngiam from Quahe Woo and Palmer asked instead for 18 weeks' jail. She said this was an unprecedented time for all, especially for Zhao who was "abruptly placed" in a position where she had to deal with the data.

She said Zhao was leading a team and had to organise the team members as well as work "long and stressful hours to manage the data on a daily basis", with little rest.

Ms Ngiam added that Zhao's stress was "compounded by the fact that there was little to no guidance from anyone else as to how our client should organise this new team, and the new job scope".

"She intended for the information that was shared to be only shared within the WeChat group comprising of mothers, of whom the accused empathised with," said Ms Ngiam.

She added that her client made a mistake and fully accepts that.

"Our client wore many hats at the material time - one of a deputy head who had to deal and manage the daily COVID-19 data, on top of managing a team of people; our client was also a mother to three young children; a wife to her husband; and a friend who empathised with fellow mothers out there who were equally worried about the COVID-19 situation," she said. 

"It was the multitude of these factors that consequently led our client to foolishly share the information prematurely with a close group of mothers."

She said Zhao's motivation was to assuage the fear and uncertainty among the other mothers in the chat group, and "mistakenly thought she could lighten the mood by occasionally making the sharing of COVID-19 numbers as a game, as it was a time of heightened emotions and stress for all".

In sentencing, the judge told Zhao that she breached the trust and confidence placed in her. There is a need to maintain the public confidence in the Government's ability to maintain the confidentiality of highly sensitive information, said the judge.

However, she accepted that she had no "nefarious motivation". While the defence tendered a psychiatric report showing she had been struggling with adjustment disorder, the judge did not find this to be "seriously mitigatory" in terms of her culpability.

Instead, Zhao had shared the sensitive information on multiple occasions over a period of about a month.

She was allowed to speak to her husband before serving her jail term.

For each charge under the Official Secrets Act, she could have been jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$2,000, or both.