Iris Koh, suspended doctor and assistant linked to Healing the Divide group get more charges
Suspended doctor Jipson Quah and his assistant Thomas Chua Cheng Soon were also charged with more offences, including conspiring with others to defraud MOH about COVID-19 vaccination.
Iris Koh (left) and Jipson Quah (right) outside the State Courts on Jul 27, 2022. (Photos: TODAY/Nuria Ling)
SINGAPORE: Iris Koh, the founder of the Healing the Divide group that has a known stance against COVID-19 vaccination, was on Wednesday (Jul 27) handed two more charges of conspiring to defraud the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Koh, 46, appeared in court on Wednesday and now faces a total of four charges. She was given permission to travel to Malaysia last month for cancer treatment.
Her two new charges involve Jipson Quah, a doctor linked to Healing the Divide, and his assistant Thomas Chua Cheng Soon. Both men also received several new charges on Wednesday.
Koh is accused of conspiring with Quah, Chua and another person, named Cedric Lim Junqi @ Mohammad Daniel Lim in charge sheets, to make false representations to MOH that Lim was vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine when he was not. This allegedly took place on Jan 14.
According to court documents, she is accused of a similar conspiracy with Quah and another man named Gary Tho Kong Choong to defraud MOH in October last year that Tho was vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine.
This comes on top of her two existing charges. One charge is for conspiring with Quah to defraud MOH into believing people were vaccinated with the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine between July 2021 and January this year.
Koh's other existing charge is for obstructing a police inspector by refusing to sign and tearing up a copy of her statement in January.
DOCTOR AND ASSISTANT FACE MORE CHARGES
Quah, 34, and his assistant, Chua, 40, now face a total of 10 and seven charges respectively after receiving several fresh charges.
Both men already faced one charge each of conspiring to make false representation to MOH that a woman was vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine when she was not, from December 2021 to January this year.
The charge was amended on Wednesday to list the woman's full name as Mehrajunnisha Quaide Milath, and name an additional person, Milath Quaide, as part of the conspiracy.
Quah is now accused of conspiring to defraud MOH by claiming that nine more people were vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine when they were not. Six of his charges also involve Chua. This includes the two charges where he is named as a co-conspirator with Koh and Chua.
Quah and Chua allegedly conspired with David Christopher Newton, 43, to defraud MOH that he and a woman named Apinya Wonglangka were vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine when they were not. This allegedly took place between Dec 29, 2021 and Jan 15, court documents said.
Newton was earlier charged over his alleged involvement in the false representation. According to court records, he will return to court for a pre-trial conference in August.
The doctor and his assistant then allegedly engaged in another similar conspiracy to defraud MOH that a woman named Elizabeth Monica Paglar, a man named Stephen Columbus Sayson and another woman named Natalie Carmella Sayson were vaccinated when they were not on Jan 19.
The charges that Quah faces alone are for conspiring with Ngo Soh Yong and Sim Hong Ow to make false representations to MOH that they were vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine when they were not, between Oct 16, 2021 and Nov 6, 2021.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Etsuko Lim said it was likely that further charges would be made against Quah and Chua. She asked for a six-week adjournment for investigations to continue.
Koh was represented by lawyer Mr Wee Pan Lee and Quah was represented by Mr Anand Nalachandran, while Chua was unrepresented. All three accused had their bail extended and will return to court on Sep 7.
Quah has been suspended by the Singapore Medical Council for 18 months from Mar 23, or until the conclusion of his disciplinary proceedings.
He was allegedly paid up to S$1,500 to inject patients with saline solution instead of a COVID-19 vaccine, and upload their false vaccination statuses to MOH's National Immunisation Registry, according to the council.
The offence of making false representation to MOH carries a jail term of up to 20 years, a fine or both.
If convicted of voluntarily obstructing a public servant in the discharge of their public functions, Koh could be jailed for up to three months, fined up to S$2,500 or both.
