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Trader arrested for selling personal details of public service workers

A trader at the Madina Market was yesterday arrested for selling documents containing the personal details of some public service workers.

Madam Naa Dei Dzani was taken to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Police Headquarters, in Accra to assist in investigations.

The police further confiscated about three sacks of documents containing application letters, appointment letters, assumption letters, salary payment slips, promotion letters and other workplace correspondences.

She was apprehended by a joint Police and Data Protection Commission enforcement team which undertook an operation to clamp down on the sale of such documents.

Mr Dennis Darkwah, Head, Incidence Response Management Team, Data Protection Commission, told Ghanaian Times that the sale of such documents which contains valid personal details of others was in breach of section 88 of the Data Protection Act.

He said the Commission obtained information that some persons were selling such documents in the market, leading to the arrest.

The task force, he said, has in recent weeks intensified efforts to enforce the law on data protection and sensitise the public on provisions of the Act.

Additionally, it was to compel data controlagencies to register with the commission and also put in place mechanisms to protect data of clients, Mr Darkwah stated.

“We urge the public to cooperate with us as we work to protect citizens from people obtaining their information illegally. This operation is part of our sensitisation plan to keep the public informed that the Commission will not countenance such breaches,” he added.

Inspector Ansah Fianko of the Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police indicated that the arrest was to enable the police conduct a bottom-up investigation into the release of the document to the public.

He noted that the police would further engage the various institutions from which the document emanated and how such documents were disposed.

BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS

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