The Alberta RCMP has issued a court summons for Independent MLA Thomas Dang, despite the politician saying he is no longer under criminal investigation or facing criminal charges.
In a news release on Friday afternoon, police say they laid charges against an Edmonton resident for illegally attempting to access private information contained in Alberta Health’s COVID-19 vaccine passport website.
Dang was issued a summons for allegedly contravening section 107(2) of the Health Information Act based on recommendations from the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, the Alberta RCMP said.
He is scheduled to appear in Edmonton Provincial Court on July 27 and could be fined up to $200,000 under the act.
This comes after Dang asked to rejoin the NDP caucus last week after a spokesperson said the MLA is no longer under criminal investigation and will not face criminal charges in a news release last Thursday.
Dang previously admitted to hacking the government’s COVID-19 vaccination passport verification website late last year.
He said he conducted the probe after a constituent warned him of possible loopholes allowing people to access private health information through the vaccine website.
According to Dang, he used Premier Jason Kenney’s birthdate and date of verification — both publicly available — allowing him to breach the site’s privacy safeguards.
Dang said he immediately stopped the search, advised his NDP caucus team, which in turn advised the government of the security breach. The breach was remedied soon after.
The NDP said in late December it learned the RCMP had searched Dang’s home. Dang stepped down from the NDP caucus at that time.
770 CHQR has reached out to the Alberta NDP with a request for comment.