Latvian “Robin Hood” hacker’s identity revealed

The identity of the Latvian hacker who, earlier this year, hacked and publicly disclosed tax office data showing that state officials were still getting a enormous salaries in spite of the official government policy of cutting corners, has been revealed by the Latvian police.

Hiding under the handle “Neo” is Ilmars Poikans, a researcher from the University of Latvia’s Computer Science department, reports The Baltic Course.

He was taken into custody on Tuesday, interrogated and a criminal process has been launched against him, but has since been released pending arraignment or trial.

The police claims that he fully admitted his guilt, but the ex-Corruption Prevention Bureau chief and attorney Aleksejs Loskutovs – who will be defending Poikans in court – says that the hacker explained his actions to the police during interrogation but hasn’t admitted his guilt.

According to Yahoo! News, Poikans has been detained after the police executed a raid on a house belonging to a high-profile Latvian television journalist, prompting other journalist to protest and claim that freedom of speech laws have been violated.