Former Civil Servant Leaked Crucial Data to Criminal Brother

An Irish Civil Servant in the Data Protection Sector reportedly leaked information of peoples’ financial and personal details to his criminal brother.

His brother then used the information to burgle one victim and attempted to extort money from three business men. The department was first notified of the shady dealings a few years back when they received a letter from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation with regards to the former employee’s brother.

The brother had been arrested in connection with the extortion of monies from three business men in 2003. Upon arrest, Gardaí found in the brother’s possession a piece of paper with victims names, addresses, former addresses, dates of birth, PRSI numbers and amounts earned the previous year.

Documents that were made public under the freedom of information act show that department officials within the Civil Service weren’t too keen on the issue becoming general knowledge.

Countless emails were sent back and forth between officials from eight different sections within the department regarding the issue with one email stating, "You need to be aware of this. The risk that this could go public is genuine."

Anxious officials were eager to find out if the employee could have tamper with or changed information he had access to in the CRS (Central Records System).

The former Civil Servant claims that his former colleagues regularly abuse the civil servant access that comes with the profession.

The employee admitted to illegally accessing and distributing government information and made moves to resign. He later withdrew but was then given the heave-ho.