Doctor, agent held over fake birth certificate ring

 

Many childless couple had adopted the babies and registered them as their own biological children, with the help of the syndicate. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA: A doctor and an agent who worked for him have been detained by the National Registration Department (NRD) for being involved in a syndicate falsifying the information of over 200 births since 2009.

NRD director-general Ruslin Jusoh said the doctor was nabbed here while the other suspect, who was an agent active in carrying out the scheme in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Penang, was detained at his house in Melaka.

‘’With the arrests of the two men, NRD has been able to solve some of the cases involving false birth information and smash a syndicate which had been detected since 2009 at a private maternity clinic in Petaling Jaya,’’ he told a media conference here, today.

He said the modus operandi of the syndicate was to offer babies for adoption to childless couples and registering them as their biological children, while the doctor involved signed and confirmed the birth registration form, JPN.LM01.

‘’The syndicate will then enter the details of baby and the married couple as if the baby was born to the couple. The agent and the couple will then handle the registration of the child at NRD using false documents,’’ he said.

According to Ruslin, most babies who were registered as such are now between 12 and 16 years old. He said each transaction cost between RM8,000 and RM20,000.

‘’The birth records of the babies have been blacklisted. I urge their parents to meet us and co-operate with NRD to complete investigations on the issue as NRD will detect and track them down,’’ he said.

As a further action, Ruslin said all existing information in the affected birth registration would be updated and corrected, namely, by removing information of the parents involved. The citizenship status of the child would then become “not determined” as the real parents were not known.

‘’ If they want to keep the children, the parents involved are allowed to make an application for adoption through the Social Welfare Department (JKM) but this is subject to the correct legal procedure,’’ he said, adding that NRD would co-operate with JKM and the health ministry in a follow up to the cases.

Ruslin said NRD would also conduct an internal investigation to determine if any of its staff were involved in the syndicate.

He also said the clinics or hospitals involved would also be contacted to obtain confirmation on births.

In the meantime, he reminded childless couples to seek adopted children through the legitimate process and not use middlemen to deal with the NRD. -FMT