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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Indian FT acquitted of 'sabotage' </TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Charges of tampering with firm's computers dropped </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Hian Hou
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A COMPUTER programmer accused of sabotaging his former company's computer systems was acquitted yesterday.
Two years after the start of his run-in with the law, Mr Thangavelu Boopathiraja (left) was acquitted of two charges of making unauthorised modifications to a computer system.
Delivering his judgment yesterday, two days before the accused's 37th birthday, District Judge Thian Yee Sze said the prosecution had 'not satisfied the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt'.
The case began in 2007, when Mr Boopathiraja's former employer, SMC Marine Services, discovered someone had installed passwords on a system monitoring the movement of two of its tugboats. This resulted in the company being unable to access the system, which was meant to prevent fuel pilferage.
SMC suspected Mr Boopathiraja, the key person behind the development of the monitoring system, was the culprit. The reason: He started a new company selling a similar tracking system just five days after he left SMC in August 2006.
The same month the following year, Mr Boopathiraja was charged with two offences under the Computer Misuse Act, which carries a penalty of up to three years' jail and fines of up to $10,000 upon conviction. He was also sued by SMC.
During the criminal trial, which began last June, SMC's lawyers argued that Mr Boopathiraja was the only person to work on the systems; they introduced computer forensics evidence to support this. They also said it was only after he left that a password was required to access the system, and concluded that Mr Boopathiraja must have been responsible.
They also claimed that one of the passwords, subsequently cracked by the computer forensics firm hired by SMC, was made up of a combination of the date of India's national day and letters which spelled out the country's national flower, the lotus. Mr Boopathiraja, a former Indian national, is now a Singaporean.
The accused's lawyers, from Rodyk & Davidson, denied the password was set by him. SMC, they said, was angry that Mr Boopathiraja had quit and then set up a competing business. SMC possessed only circumstantial evidence, they added.
The lawyers also questioned the veracity of SMC's evidence. For instance, they said, SMC's computer forensics expert had analysed computer files pulled from a USB-storage device, but this device was not introduced as evidence in court.
This, the defence said, meant that the evidence submitted could have been tampered with and was thus unreliable. Mr Boopathiraja told The Straits Times after the verdict that he had always been 'innocent' and is 'happy to move on'. The civil case against him by SMC has also been dropped.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Charges of tampering with firm's computers dropped </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Hian Hou
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
ST FILE PHOTO
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
A COMPUTER programmer accused of sabotaging his former company's computer systems was acquitted yesterday.
Two years after the start of his run-in with the law, Mr Thangavelu Boopathiraja (left) was acquitted of two charges of making unauthorised modifications to a computer system.
Delivering his judgment yesterday, two days before the accused's 37th birthday, District Judge Thian Yee Sze said the prosecution had 'not satisfied the burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt'.
The case began in 2007, when Mr Boopathiraja's former employer, SMC Marine Services, discovered someone had installed passwords on a system monitoring the movement of two of its tugboats. This resulted in the company being unable to access the system, which was meant to prevent fuel pilferage.
SMC suspected Mr Boopathiraja, the key person behind the development of the monitoring system, was the culprit. The reason: He started a new company selling a similar tracking system just five days after he left SMC in August 2006.
The same month the following year, Mr Boopathiraja was charged with two offences under the Computer Misuse Act, which carries a penalty of up to three years' jail and fines of up to $10,000 upon conviction. He was also sued by SMC.
During the criminal trial, which began last June, SMC's lawyers argued that Mr Boopathiraja was the only person to work on the systems; they introduced computer forensics evidence to support this. They also said it was only after he left that a password was required to access the system, and concluded that Mr Boopathiraja must have been responsible.
They also claimed that one of the passwords, subsequently cracked by the computer forensics firm hired by SMC, was made up of a combination of the date of India's national day and letters which spelled out the country's national flower, the lotus. Mr Boopathiraja, a former Indian national, is now a Singaporean.
The accused's lawyers, from Rodyk & Davidson, denied the password was set by him. SMC, they said, was angry that Mr Boopathiraja had quit and then set up a competing business. SMC possessed only circumstantial evidence, they added.
The lawyers also questioned the veracity of SMC's evidence. For instance, they said, SMC's computer forensics expert had analysed computer files pulled from a USB-storage device, but this device was not introduced as evidence in court.
This, the defence said, meant that the evidence submitted could have been tampered with and was thus unreliable. Mr Boopathiraja told The Straits Times after the verdict that he had always been 'innocent' and is 'happy to move on'. The civil case against him by SMC has also been dropped.
[email protected]
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