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The assistant of the doctor allegedly involved in the submission of false Covid-19 information to the National Immunisation Registry has had his charge amended to a more serious one.
According to charge sheets seen by Mothership, Thomas Chua Cheng Soon, 40, was charged with conspiring with doctor Jipson Quah and patient Mehrajunnisha to "dishonestly make a false representation to the Ministry of Health (MOH)" on Friday, Jan. 28.
If found guilty, the charge is punishable by up to 20 years' jail, a fine, or both.
According to CNA, the new charge is upgraded from his original charge of conspiring to cheat MOH, which is punishable by up to three years' jail, a fine, or both.
What happened
On Jan. 14, Chua is alleged to have conspired with Quah to falsely represent to MOH that the patient, Mehrajunnisha, had been vaccinated with the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, when she was not.
This was in order for Mehrajunnisha to obtain a Covid-19 vaccination certificate by MOH, according to charge sheets.
CNA reported that Quah had similarly had his charge amended to making a false representation to MOH on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
According to a Jan. 23 statement issued by the police, Quah and his assistant Chua had been arrested alongside Iris Koh, 46, the founder of anti-vaccine group Healing the Divide (HTD).
Preliminary investigations found that Quah and Chua had allegedly conspired to submit false vaccination data to MOH, while Koh had allegedly referred clients, believed to be members of HTD, to them.
"Merely followed instructions"
In the Jan. 28 court hearing, Chua pleaded for leniency and said he felt he did not deserve the charges.
He shared that he had "merely followed" the instructions of Quah as a middleman.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Samuel Yap asked for Chua to be remanded for another week till Feb. 4, citing police updates that indicated that the extent of the fraud committed had been "quite significant".
As a result, Chua's attendance is "necessary for the investigations to be complete".
Koh also faces updated charge of giving false representation to MOH
CNA reported that Koh, who had also originally been set to appear in open court on Friday morning, had her case changed to be heard in the Court Crime Registry Chambers, which is not open to the public.
According to Yahoo News, Koh had her charge upgraded as well on Friday, and her bail was denied.
Koh now faces an amended charge of being party to a criminal conspiracy with Quah.
The offence carries a jail term of up to 20 years, a fine or both.
Koh's lawyer confirmed that the 46-year-old had been admitted to Singapore General Hospital ahead of her court mention, but did not state when and why she was admitted.
However, according to CNA, he added that it was "unlikely to be Covid-19".
She will be remanded upon her discharge from the hospital and is expected to return to court on Feb. 4.
Koh's lawyer filed an urgent appeal against the decision to keep his client in remand, so that she can spend Chinese New Year with her family at home.
Summary of charges faced by each party
Here's a summary of the charges Koh, Quah, and Chua face as of Jan. 28:
Koh, 46 (founder of Healing the Divide) - Charged for conspiring with Quah to dishonestly make false representations to MOH between July 2021 and January 2022.
Quah, 33 (general practitioner) - Charged for dishonestly making a false representation to MOH.
Chua, 40 (doctor's assistant)- Charged for conspiring with Quah and patient Mehrajunnisha to dishonestly make false representations to MOH between December 2021 and January 2022.
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Top image via Matthias Ang and screenshot from YouTube