The central figure at the heart of the data leak of more than 14,000 HIV-positive patients in Singapore may be facing fraud charges in Hong Kong for presenting false credentials as a teacher in that city before he worked here.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that Mikhy Farrera Brochez, age 34, took charge of several education companies in Hong Kong around 2008. In one such company, parents paid as much as HK$8,000 for their special-needs child to be assessed.
In Singapore, Brochez also falsified his credentials in order to teach at two polytechnic institutions.
On the website for Hong Kong-based Guia Education, Brochez is still listed as the centre’s Executive Director. His photo is followed by a list of credentials, APA, APS, MCollT, MS DPSY, DipED.
Brochez most likely worked in Hong Kong as an educator in the years leading up to 2008, which is when he relocated to Singapore.
APA stands for the American Psychological Association, and APS, for the American Physiological Society.
SCMP reports that a spokeswoman from the APA said that Brochez’ name is not on its database. Neither are the names of the other people who are on Guia Education’s website staff page, she said.
In order to be a member of the APA, one must obtain a doctorate in psychology or a related field from a regionally accredited institution.
The spokeswoman from APA added that over four years ago APA had a student affiliate by the name of Carmen Chan. There is a Carmen Chan listed on Guia Education’s website as the head of Mandarin Educational Services, but the spokeswoman could not ascertain if this is the same Carmen Chan.
In January, when the details of the HIV data leak were made known to the public, the Government also disclosed that the credentials for education that had been discovered in Brochez’s home had been falsified.
Among them were a master’s degree in developmental and child psychology as well as a doctorate in psychology and education, supposedly from the University of Paris.
He was deported back to the United States in April 2018, after serving jail time for drug-related offenses, as well as fraud. Earlier this week Brochez appeared in court on charges of trespassing on the property owned by his mother.
Brochez has been called a “pathological liar” by the Singaporean police, after his allegations that he had been raped in prison, and refused treatment for HIV. He also said that it was the Singaporean infectious disease doctor who took care of him while in jail who furnished him with the list of HIV-positive patients.
The doctor has denied all such claims.
Brochez apparently met his Singaporean partner, another Singaporean doctor named Ler Teck Siang, on a gay dating site. They met in Hong Kong for the first time in 2007 and moved to Singapore shortly after.
Ler provided Brochez with a sample of his blood in order for Brochez’ HIV status to remain undetected by authorities so he could find employment. It was also through Ler that Brochez had access to the information regarding HIV patients in Singapore, as it was part of Ler’s job to work with the HIV registry.
In 2012 Brochez told a newspaper in Singapore that he had been a child prodigy who had been multilingual from the age of three. He also claimed that his mother was a famous psychologist for children and adolescents, specializing in “child neurology and gifted science and mathematics education in the UK” and that she had practiced her theories on him when he was a child.
According to the British Psychological Society, Brochez’ mother’s name is not on any list of psychologists connected to academic institutions in the United Kingdom.
Read related: Wanted in SG for leaking HIV registry records, Mikhy Brochez appears in US court on trespassing charges
https://theindependent.sg.sg/wanted-in-sg-for-leaking-hiv-registry-records-mikhy-brochez-appears-in-us-court-on-trespassing-charges/