KOTA KINABALU: A man, believed to be a member of a syndicate suspected to be involved in falsifying digital Covid-19 vaccination certificates, has been arrested.

       This came after Terengganu police arrested a private clinic doctor in Marang on suspicion of issuing fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates on Saturday.

       The 31-year-old was arrested at the Sabah Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office at about 1.30pm yesterday.

       Sabah MACC director Datuk S. Karunanithy confirmed the arrest and said the man would be brought to the Magistrate’s Court today to be remanded to assist with the investigation.

       According to sources, the man had asked for RM2,000 from a group of unvaccinated people and gave the money to a volunteer at one of the vaccination centres in the city.

       The money was allegedly used to reward the volunteers on duty for helping register unvaccinated people as “vaccinated” in their MySejahtera app in October last year.

       The vaccination status on the MySejahtera app of those who were said to have given the money would then appear as “vaccinated”, added the sources.

       The remand order against a doctor of a private clinic in Marang for his alleged involvement in the sale of fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates in Terengganu has been extended for another two days. - Bernama

       It is unclear whether the arrest is linked to the ongoing investigations on unvaccinated umrah returnees in Peninsular Malaysia.

       Meanwhile, the remand order against the 51-year-old Terengganu doctor had been extended till tomorrow to enable further police investigations to be conducted.

       Terengganu police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Rohaimi Md Isa had earlier said initial investigations revealed that a total of 1,900 individuals had dealings with the clinic regarding Covid-19 vaccination.

       Police are still investigating how many actually obtained the fake vaccination certificates.

       Meanwhile, only one case of selling fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates has been detected so far, said Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Kamarudin Md Din.

       He said the case was detected in Marang where the private clinic doctor was arrested.

       “We are gathering actionable intelligence and monitoring the situation closely to detect if there are individuals or groups selling fake vaccine certificates.

       “Those with information on such activities should contact the nearest police station or CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-2610 1559/1599 so that investigations can commence,” he said.