‘Stolen our trust’: NDIS employee leaks 43,000 names to friends
The mother-of-two passed the details of tens of thousands of participants to friends so they had the “inside running” on who needed services to chase new clients.
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Exclusive: An NDIS employee leaked 43,000 names and private details of vulnerable participants of the disability scheme to friends so they could chase new clients for their business.
Mother-of-two Leena Kumar, 50, was working for the National Disability Insurance Agency when she passed the details of tens of thousands of participants to friends so they had the “inside running” on who needed services, a Sydney court heard on Monday.
One of the participants was a 12-year-old child.
The sensitive details included their disabilities and plans, as well as their names and other personal details.
In one case it resulted in someone knocking on the door of a disabled person’s home, “unannounced and unwelcome”, to get their business, raising the suspicion of the participant’s mother, a Sydney court heard.
Kumar also provided the postcodes of thousands of people with NDIS plans, including an area highly populated with indigenous people in South Australia.
Amit Sharma and Nikita Patel were named as the friends in court.
Sharma pleaded guilty in February to three counts of solicit disclosure of protected agency information, and is due to be sentenced in June.
Ms Patel has not been charged with any wrongdoing or charged with any offences.
Kumar appeared at Parramatta District Court for sentencing on three charges, one of record, use, disclose of protected agency info and two of official abuse of public office to gain advantage. The offending occurred over a period of 20 months starting in 2021.
Judge John Pickering said Kumar was an intelligent woman who “knew damn well what she was doing wrong”.
He said her actions led to vulnerable participants being “hassled by people who should never have had this information”.
He said the offending was over a prolonged period and was not impulsive, but a “co-ordinated decision”.
“It was deliberate wilful behaviour over that time,” Judge Pickering said.
Kumar’s barrister Peter Kondich said his client had not received any financial gain from disclosing details of participants.
Judge Pickering agreed there was no evidence to suggest Kumar had benefited from financial “kickbacks”, which would be the usual reason to act in such a way.
He pondered over whether she did this for “psychological enjoyment”.
He also accepted that she may have believed her friends were providing a good service, “so what was the harm?”
He said Kumar’s actions had the “capacity to undermine the scheme”, which was under scrutiny due to fraud and its growing federal budget.
He said the idea that a government official would do something like this also diminishes the public’s faith in the NDIS.
“She has effectively stolen our trust,” Judge Pickering said.
“Victims were multifaceted, not just the vulnerable on the NDIS but all of us that are taxpayers to this massive industry.”
He said the offences were worthy of a custodial sentence of two years and six months, which was suspended to be served as an intensive corrections order.
He also gave her 300 hours community service and a fine of $4000.
Judge Pickering said he allowed her to walk free, based on her early guilty plea, the fact she supported her parents, and because she had no prior convictions.
Commonwealth Public Prosecutor Rowan O’Donnell requested the case be held in a closed court at the start of the hearing, which was swiftly rejected by the judge.
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Originally published as ‘Stolen our trust’: NDIS employee leaks 43,000 names to friends
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