ALOR GAJAH, Jan 13 — Three civil servants including a married couple working in a government department in Melaka have been arrested over the possession of fake MySejahtera Covid-19 digital vaccination certificates for the purpose of obtaining the special financial assistance or civil servant bonus.

Alor Gajah district police chief Supt Arshad Abu said the couple, aged 38 and 33, and a colleague, 58 who also acted as the middle man managing the sale and downloading the Covid-19 digital vaccination certificate, were detained at the Alor Gajah district police headquarters at about 4pm Tuesday (January 11).

"On December 30, the department head where the couple is working became suspicious of the fully-vaccinated status of the husband and wife and directed his officer to check the authenticity of the certificates.

"The next day, the officer sent a letter to the Rembia Health Clinic (KK) to check and confirm the status of the certificates. On January 5, Rembia KK remarked that both suspects were not vaccinated at the clinic,” he said in a statement here today.

He said initial investigations showed that the couple had acquired the fully-vaccinated digital certificate from the colleague for RM500 a piece.

He said the fully vaccinated Covid-19 status certificate was bought by the suspects because it was a precondition to get a bonus apart from avoiding action by the department for refusing to be vaccinated and making it easier for them to enter business premises.

Arshad said follow-up checks found that the couple had lodged a police report in the middle of last year for refusing to receive the Covid-19 vaccine injection.

He said upon further investigations, police discovered that the 58-year-old colleague had acted as a middle man in a Covid-19 digital vaccination certificate sales syndicate.

Police discovered that the suspect had downloaded the fully-vaccinated vaccination certificate from another suspect known as "VNilai” who is still on the loose.

"We have confiscated mobile phones owned by the three suspects for further investigation and they have all been remanded until today under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.

He added that the case was also being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code. — Bernama