Ex-condo security guard charged with extortion bid over TraceTogether app, impersonating police officer

SINGAPORE — A former security guard was charged on Monday (Feb 21) with alleged corruption, extortion and police impersonation offences.

Ganesan Gunasagaran, a 33-year-old from Malaysia, is accused of committing these offences sometime around Oct 19 last year while he was working as a senior security officer at the Seahill condominium located along West Coast Crescent.

Ganesan was employed by Metropolis Security Systems, court documents showed.

He is alleged to have corruptly tried to obtain a bribe from a man, who had entered the condominium without checking in using the TraceTogether mobile application for Covid-19 contact-tracing, in return for not taking action against the man.

He is also alleged to have put the man in “fear of harm” in order to extort a sum of S$10,000, by stating that he would be investigated for illegal entry into Seahill and for supposedly having sex with a student inside a toilet at the condominium.

Ganesan is also further accused of lying to the same individual that he was a high-ranking undercover officer of the “Singapore Police Licensing Sector”.

No further details, including whether the man who was threatened by Ganesan was a condominium visitor or resident, were given in court documents.

Ganesan, who was not represented by a lawyer, told the court through a Tamil interpreter that he was "not ready to plead guilty". 

As he was unable to afford the S$20,000 bail and had no one to be his bailor, he was ordered to remain in remand until he is able to raise the amount.  

He is scheduled to return to court on March 23. 

In a press release on the case issued on Monday, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau reminded members of the public that it adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption.

If Ganesan is found guilty of a corruption offence, he could be jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$100,000 or both.

For putting a person in fear of harm in order to commit extortion, Ganesan could be jailed for up to five years and caned.

For impersonating a police officer, he could be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$2,500, or both.