Private investigation company, managing partner fined over unlawful surveillance of cop
Claudia Tan
The Straits Times
July 14, 2026
A private investigation and security company and its managing partner were fined on July 14 over an assignment to conduct surveillance on a police officer.
Tan Kok Boon, 58, was fined $25,000, while CDiC Consultants was fined $20,000 for supplying private investigation services without approval.
In sentencing, District Judge Lim Tse Haw noted that the surveillance was “rather extensive” and it ended only because the police officer realised he was being followed.
Court documents stated that a man identified as Pai Hong Yao contacted CDiC in November 2021 to conduct surveillance on the officer.
Identified as DSP Lee in court documents, the officer was involved in an investigation concerning Pai’s father.
Pai hired CDiC as he was dissatisfied with the way his father was treated during the investigation.
On Nov 29, 2021, Pai met Tan Kok Boon and Tan Hui Ting, who was the partner in CDiC, to discuss the assignment.
Court documents did not disclose any details about the woman’s case.
During the meeting, Tan Kok Boon learnt that Pai wanted to find out if DSP Lee was a “good or bad policeman”.
The two CDiC partners agreed to gather information and conduct surveillance on DSP Lee. A formal letter of engagement was issued, and Pai made an initial payment of $3,600 to CDiC.
He also gave them information about DSP Lee, including his photograph and mobile number, and told them that the officer worked at Police Cantonment Complex.
The company began investigating DSP Lee a few days later.
On Dec 10, 2021, Pai sent several messages to Tan Kok Boon and Tan Hui Ting, identifying persons of interest that DSP Lee interacted with, or would be interacting with in relation to the investigation of his father.
These persons included the lead deputy public prosecutor handling the case, whose name and photo were given to Tan Kok Boon and Tan Hui Ting.
Between Dec 16, 2021, and Jan 9, 2022, CDiC deployed its private investigators to surveil DSP Lee at his residence and his workplace.
They tracked his movements during the day and took photographs of him, including one shot of him topless in his home.
On several occasions, surveillance was conducted from 7am to midnight.
CDiC received $25,100 from Pai for the engagement.
The surveillance only came to a stop when DSP Lee noticed that he was being followed on Jan 9, 2022. He filed a police report the next day.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Hairul Hakkim told the court that Tan Kok Boon and the company did not stumble into wrongdoing, but made a deliberate choice to surveil a police officer.
He said: “That choice was not made in a moment of confusion or ignorance. It was calculated, sustained and directed at a person working in a place where sensitive work, with implications to public safety and security, is carried out.”
He sought a fine of $25,000 for both Tan Kok Boon and CDiC, noting that the company had made a voluntary disgorgement of $25,100 on July 9.
However, he said that the disgorgement had no mitigating value as it merely returned the ill-gotten profits from the unlawful engagement.
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