KUALA TERENGGANU: The police here have arrested a private clinic doctor suspected of issuing fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates.
Terengganu police chief Datuk Rohaimi Md Isa said the 51-year-old man was picked up on Saturday at his clinic in Marang, near here, following a public complaint.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that a total of 1,900 individuals were found to be dealing with this clinic (for vaccination purposes). We are still investigating how many people out of that number did not get injections but received fake vaccination certificates.
“It is understood that those who want to get this fake vaccination certificate need to pay between RM400 and RM600, compared to the actual price of RM300 for the vaccination,” he said at a press conference yesterday.
It is believed that there are also individuals from outside the state who went to the doctor to obtain the fake vaccination certificates.
“Most of the customers communicated with the doctor online, so we will try to get information from emails in the laptop that was also confiscated from the clinic,” he added.
Rohaimi said the doctor was believed to have carried out the activity alone in the treatment room without the help of other clinic workers.
“Even though the doctor admitted to being an anti-vaxxer, he had already been vaccinated, probably because of his work,” he said.
Bernama quoted Rohaimi as saying that the suspect was also believed to have used an agent who was given a commission of RM50 to promote his services.
He said the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.
At the same press conference, Terengganu Health Department director Datuk Dr Kasemani Embong said the private clinic had been allowed to provide Covid-19 vaccinations for a fee since September last year.
“It was also found that the clinic had applied to be used as a Covid-19 vaccination centre (PPV), but the application was not approved,” she added.