PKR central election committee’s (JPP) systems and IT unit head, Alvin Teoh Kong Seng, was picked up by police in Sibu this morning over allegations of a cyber-attack on tablets used in e-voting in the Julau division yesterday.
Teoh was then brought to the Sarikei police district headquarters for questioning. Julau is under the jurisdiction of Sarikei police.
But he was brought back to Sibu for questioning as Sarikei does not have a commercial crime unit to handle the case, Teoh’s lawyer Yap Hoi Leong told The Malaysian Insight.
“Right now he’s still at the Sibu police headquarters having his statement taken,” Yap said.
Four police reports were lodged yesterday and early this morning on the cyber breach which resulted in the results of the most watched division election being put on hold.
Julau MP Larry Sng and Selangor Batu Tiga assemblyman Rodziah Ismail lodged reports at the Julau police station last night on the alleged breach.
Ismail Yusop, a member of the JPP, lodged a similar report at 4.24 this morning at the Damansara police station in Petaling Jaya.
Teoh himself had also lodged a report on the alleged cyber attack at the Sibu police district headquarters at 1.11am.
In his report, Teoh stated he was informed by an IT colleague on duty at the William Mawan stadium of the presence of the “Prey Anti-Theft” app in some of the tablets used in the e-voting there.
The 44-year-old IT expert, who reportedly reports to vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar, said he immediately reported the incident to the JPP and acted on the instructions of the IT safety unit.
He said when he tried to uninstall the app from a tablet as instructed, it wiped out all the data.
Ismail in his report stated the app could affect the operations of the election as it could erase all data in the affected tablets.
He also said the PKR IT unit has never installed the software in the tablets used in the e-voting.
Ismail also said that their initial investigation showed the breach was made at around 4am on November 10.
He said of the 80 tablets that were used in the polling in the Julau division, a dozen were found with the app installed, with six found to have all their data wiped out.
Police have seized nine tablets, Ismail said.
Teoh’s lawyer disputed Ismail’s claims saying the Prey Anti-Theft application is readily available in the market as a firewall and there is no proof that it has the ability to wipe out data on any equipment it is installed.
“I have told my client to give his fullest co-operation in the investigation.”
Yap said it is uncertain if police will detain Teoh after taking his statement.
The former DAP assemblyman for Dudong said if Teoh is detained today, he will have to be brought before a Sibu magistrate tomorrow morning for remand application. – MKINI
PKR polls data chief with cops, Immigration D-G clarifies
KUALA LUMPUR— Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said today PKR’s election data chief Alvin Teoh was not detained by his officers in Sibu as claimed by the police.
“According to the immigration officer on duty at the departure hall of the Sibu airport, the subject has no connection with Immigration issues but was arrested by the police when the subject wanted to depart for KUL,” he told Malay Mail in Malay through WhatsApp, using the destination code for the national capital.
Sarawak PKR election coordinator Desmond Kho told Malay Mail earlier that Teoh was stopped by Immigration officers from flying out of Sibu earlier this morning.
Kho said he received information that Sibu police later took custody of Teoh before handing him to their Sarikei counterparts, adding that a lawyer has been engaged to find out where Teoh was being held.
Kho also said Teoh’s arrest could be linked to police reports regarding an alleged hacking of the party’s tablets that were used for electronic voting at PKR Julau.
Teoh is the IT director of the central election committee and was in Julau to help conduct the PKR polls there.
The PKR party elections committee chief Datuk Rashid Din the Julau party results are on hold as seven tablets out of 76 used for voting yesterday had been seized by police.
The first political party in the country to use electronic voting through tablets, PKR’s ongoing leadership elections has been wracked with violence and allegations of vote tampering.
The latest incident involved vote buying at another Sarawak division in Lanang, Malaysiakinireported this afternoon. – MKINI
THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT / MKINI
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