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PETALING JAYA: Three civil servants, including a married couple, were arrested in Melaka today for having obtained fake vaccination certificates.

Alor Gajah district police chief Arshad Abu said that a report was lodged on Tuesday following the discovery that their vaccination certificates were fake, The Star reported.

“The three individuals were detained the same day to assist in investigations. The suspects are being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating,” he added.

It is believed that the trio were anti-vaxxers and paid for the fake vaccination certificates in order to boost their key performance indicators (KPI) scores under their department.

The department the trio worked for had made vaccinations a requirement to receive additional points in their performance reviews.

Two of the suspects, a married couple, had apparently paid one of their seniors to help them falsify their vaccination records prior to their Dec 30 performance evaluations.

“The couple, who work in the same department, was told by the senior that he had successfully used the fake certificate to score high marks in his appraisal and offered to help the husband and wife get the same for a fee of RM500 each,” Arshad said.

“The senior claimed he had links to a middleman nicknamed ‘VNilai’ who purportedly could supply fake digital certificates for RM500 each.”

Their department head suspected something was amiss and instructed another officer to check their vaccination status with the Rembia health clinic where they were supposed to have received their jabs.

The clinic replied on Jan 5 that there was no record of the couple being vaccinated. Both suspects later admitted that they were anti-vaxxers and had paid to obtain the fake certificates.

Arshad said police are trying to determine if a syndicate was involved, and his men were tracking down the “VNilai”.