JOHOR BARU: A company’s suspicions over a medical certificate issued by its staff recently helped the police to uncover a syndicate involved in selling fake medical certificates (MC) in the district for the past three months, before successfully detaining seven individuals involved.
Johor Baru Selatan district police chief ACP Mohd Padzli Mohd Zain said the suspects were sellers, buyers and printers of the MC, between the ages of 18 and 50.
“Two of them are married couples. They were all detained between 12.30pm and 12 midnight on June 3 around Permas Jaya, Mount Austin and Kempas.
‘’The arrest was in the wake of a report received on June 1 from a company suspicious of a sick leave submitted by its employee, ”Mohd Padzli said at a press conference here today.
He said that, following the arrests, police seized 106 bookets of fake medical certificates containing 100 MC each and also a purchase invoice in the name of a local printing company.
“The syndicate, which is found to be using government hospitals’ names and stamps, is believed to be selling fake medical certificates to factory workers, private companies around Johor Bahru and neighbouring countries for RM30.00 each.
‘’To date, more than 300 fake sick leave certificates have been sold with an estimated value of about RM9,000, ”he said.
According to Mohd Padzli, all the suspects have been remanded for four days starting Thursday for further investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code, which provides for a maximum jail term of 10 years, strokes and can be fined if convicted. — Bernama
