Cops searching for 7 suspected of falsifying Covid-19 test results

 

Police are still searching for seven suspects believed to have been involved in falsifying Covid-19 test result slips in Rawang, Selangor.

Gombak district police chief Arifai Tarawe said all suspects have gone into hiding after a clinic was called to confirm the results.

“Investigations were conducted after a police report was received regarding the issue in June.

“All suspects are being traced including those who provided the original result slips to be used by the suspects,” he said when contacted by Malaysiakini.

He said this when asked to comment on a Malaysiakini report earlier today regarding a private clinic in Rawang that lodged a police report after finding that its Covid-19 test results were being falsified.

The proprietor of clinic group SP Care, Dr Sathia Prakash Nadarajan, said about 20 fake test result slips bearing his clinic’s name had been found since June.

“Each time we conduct a Covid-19 test on an individual, we will record the results through a document which contains both the individual's personal identification and our clinic's reference number. Each individual is issued a unique reference number.

“However, lately we found there have been several instances of falsification of this document, whereby irresponsible parties have changed the name of the individual tested for Covid-19,” he said.

Meanwhile, Arifai said the seven suspects had used the falsified document to seek employment at a construction firm in Pontian, Johor.

“However, when the company asked for Covid-19 test results and sought confirmation from the clinic that issued it, all suspects had gone missing on the same day (after the clinic confirmed the documents as fake),” he said.

Arifai said the case is being investigated under Section 471 of the Penal Code, which criminalises the use of forged documents by knowingly passing them off as genuine.

The punishment is up to two years imprisonment, with a fine, or both, upon conviction.

If the forgery is intended for cheating, the penalty is increased to up to seven years imprisonment and a fine. - Mkini