SINGAPORE: Iris Koh Shu Cii, founder of the Healing the Divide group known to be against COVID-19 vaccination, has been handed more charges of conspiring to defraud the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Out of six charges, five are for conspiring with co-accused doctor Jipson Quah to lie to MOH that five people were vaccinated when they were not.
This allegedly occurred between October 2021 and December 2021. The five people who were allegedly falsely declared to be inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine are: Goh Tua Buk, Bobby Teo, Steven Teo, Tan Kia Lee Carrie and Lee Amy.
The sixth charge is for instigating a woman, Tee Hui Yee, on Nov 5, 2021, to fabricate evidence and get her to be falsely certified to be of unsound mind.
It was intended that this would appear in evidence in a judicial proceeding, and cause the police to “entertain an erroneous opinion” on whether Quah had improperly administered Sinopharm vaccines of a lower dosage to patients, the charge read.
The new allegations bring the total number of charges that Koh faces to 10, and the number of falsely vaccinated people named across her charges to seven.
The other four existing charges include conspiring with Quah, his assistant Thomas Chua Cheng Soon and another person named Cedric Lim Junqi or Mohammad Daniel Lim to lie to MOH that Lim was vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine when he was not.
Koh, 47, is also accused of a similar conspiracy with Quah to lie to MOH that a man named Gary Tho Kong Choong was vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine.
Her remaining two charges are for conspiring with Quah to defraud MOH into believing people were vaccinated, and for obstructing a police inspector by refusing to sign a statement and tearing up a copy of it.
Though Koh had a lawyer representing her, she raised her hand during proceedings to request to speak to District Judge Terence Tay. But she was told to consult her lawyer.
When she heard about the bail condition requiring her to not have any contact with the Healing the Divide group, Koh said: “There are 5,000 over members, it’s impossible for me.”
Judge Tay cut her off and told her to observe appropriate decorum.
Koh’s lawyer, Mr Wee Pan Lee, then told Judge Tay that this condition was “quite impossible” to comply with.
Judge Tay removed the bail condition after finding no reason for it to continue to stand, and when the prosecution had no objection to its removal.
He stressed that he was increasing bail to S$30,000 due to the seriousness of the charges, which were allegedly committed during the COVID-19 pandemic when public safety and health were at stake.
She was previously offered S$20,000 bail, which her husband paid.
Koh will next return to court for a pre-trial conference later this month. Her co-accused Quah is set for a pre-trial conference in March.