A man faces up to five years imprisonment if found guilty of bribing a nurse to alter his medical records to show he had received his second Covid-19 vaccination when he had not.
Kelvin Tan Li Ming, 35, went to court on Monday (Oct 3) over a single charge of offering S$50 bribe to part-time vaccination nurse Ms Eunice Lee En Hui at the Healthway Vaccination Centre at Choa Chu Kang Community Club.
Ms Lee told the court that she was providing Pfizer jabs on Oct 26, 2021, when she met Tan at the booth in the vaccination hall.
After verifying his name and identification card number, Ms Lee confirmed that Tan had received the first dose of the vaccine.
At this moment, Tan asked if he could give her S$50 in exchange for recording in the system that he had received the second dose when he had not.
Ms Lee refused and asked why he did not want to be vaccinated, given he had already done so previously.
“He mentioned he doesn’t believe in the whole COVID-19 situation,” said Ms Lee, as reported by Channel News Asia.
Tan added that the Pfizer doses were brought in “for stocks, for Singapore’s economy.”
As Tan needed to be vaccinated for his new job, he asked what would happen if he offered Ms Lee more money.
Ms Lee still refused, noting it had something to do with her integrity and licence.
Tan said that “integrity is not important,” noting he had been unemployed for a long time.
“So I told him that integrity is very important; maybe that’s the reason why he has been jobless for so long,” Ms Lee said in her reply to Tan.
Ms Lee further said it was the first she had encountered such a request, and kept the vaccine vial in case Tan decided to use it as a weapon.
She immediately reported the incident to her manager and wanted to double-check if the same thing happened during Tan’s first vaccination.
A police report was filed against Tan, who was asked to leave the vaccination hall by then.
Tan, who was defending himself, claimed he never clearly stated offering S$50 to Ms Lee for her to alter the records.
“I did ask two questions. If I can remember vaguely – (the first one was) can you edit the system, then we talked for a while. After that, I asked you a second time – is S$50 enough? These two questions are not in succession and are different, not joined together.”
Following various tips by the judge and prosecutor on how to cross-examine the witness, Tan questioned Ms Lee about her experience in the field and asked if she had ever faced difficult patients.
“If a patient approached you and said I’m having things, I don’t know what’s happening to me, how would you answer?” he asked.
“I will ask them to see a doctor, or I will inform the doctor,” responded Ms Lee.
Tan asked for an example and how Ms Lee resolved the issue.
Ms Lee said it was confidential, and Tan replied, “OK, no problem.”
Tan also asked Ms Lee if she ever made an error in her 10 years on the job, to which Ms Lee said no.
“So you are perfectness, ah,” said Tan.
Ms Lee replied, “No one is perfect; I’m just being professional.”
The investigation officer on Tan’s case had tested positive for Covid-19 and will have physical testimony postponed or changed to a video recording.
If convicted for offering a bribe, Tan could be imprisoned for up to five years, fined up to S$10,000 or both./TISG
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