‘Spread of national population data can be investigated under Official Secrets Act’

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KUALA LUMPUR: Anyone found spreading and selling information contained in the national population database of the National Registration Department is deemed to have committed an offence and action could be taken against him or her under the law, said Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Noor Rashid Ibrahim.

He said the information in the database was classified as confidential and only authorised persons had access to it.

“It is an offence if it was released by any official to an unauthorised person, and action can be taken under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

“However, the police will investigate if the information released contravened the OSA or not,” he told reporters at the handing-over of duties of the director of Strategic Resources and Technology Department (StaRT) at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) here yesterday.

He was commenting on the sale of information from the national population database to get 1.2 million signatures for the Mahathir Declaration.

Noor Rashid added police were investigating the individuals connected with the sale of the information.

He added that if the information was classified, then police would conduct an investigation into the case.

Asked if any individuals who were alleged to be involved in spreading the information would be called by the police, Noor Rashid said police would check the type of information which was spread before taking action.

On Thursday, freelance computer programmer Azharuddin Othman, 30, claimed he had sold the information to a woman who said she needed it to get 1.2 million signatures for the Mahathir Declaration.

Earlier, during the ceremony, the post of StaRT director was handed to Datuk Fatimah Ghazali who took over from Datuk Zaleha Abdul Rahman who goes on compulsory retirement today.

Zaleha had served for 40 years in the police department, starting as probationary inspector in 1976 in Pulapol.

Among the posts she held were as Melaka police deputy chief as well as deputy director of Management in Bukit Aman. — Bernama