Contested police statements by doctor in fake COVID-19 jab case can be used by prosecution, court rules
The six statements, made in January 2022 by Dr Jipson Quah, implicate his co-accused Iris Koh Hsiao Pei and identify patients who allegedly used saline instead of COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr Quah, 37, is on trial along with his clinic assistant, Thomas Chua Cheng Soon, 43, and Koh, 49, who founded Healing the Divide, a group that is known to be against COVID-19 vaccination.
Quah is contesting 17 charges of dishonestly making false representations to the Health Promotion Board that his patients had received the COVID-19 vaccines, when they had not.
He is accused of conspiring with his patients, Koh and Chua, in various permutations.
However, soon after the trial began, Dr Quah's lawyer Adrian Wee objected to the six contested police statements being used.
In the six contested statements, Dr Quah identified 15 to 17 patients who had taken saline shots instead of COVID-19 vaccines, in order to be reflected as vaccinated in the National Immunisation Registry.
He also claimed that Koh was the "complete mastermind" and that most of the patients were directed to him by Koh.
Dr Quah alleged that the statements were given under two inducements while he was remanded for investigations.
First, that he could be granted bail if he helped the police identify the names of patients who received fake vaccinations.
Second, that he could be given bail if he helped the police to implicate his co-accused Koh in his statements.
This issue was looked at in an ancillary hearing – a separate hearing to decide on this specific issue – over several days.
On Monday, District Judge Paul Quan agreed with the prosecution that the statements were admissible and that no threat, inducement or promise was made by the police officers to Dr Quah.
Judge Quan said the statements were given voluntarily, and that Dr Quah had continued to implicate Koh even after being bailed out, "indeed doubling down".
The main trial will resume in the afternoon, with one of the investigation officers recalled to the stand.
Dr Quah is represented by Mr Adrian Wee, while Mr Wee Pan Lee defends Koh. Chua is currently unrepresented but said he is in talks to get a lawyer on board.
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CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
She's not a designer – but this public servant leads the charge to put Singapore design on the world stage
Long before she became the head of Singapore's national agency for design, DesignSingapore Council's Dawn Lim already experienced the cost of bad design – during the two decades she spent as a caregiver to her late parents. In a local hospital just last year, Lim had to collect a biopsy sample taken from her father. A biopsy is a medical procedure where a tiny portion of body tissue is taken to be examined in a lab. It's often used to check for diseases like cancer or better understand abnormal growths and conditions. The process, in theory, sounded simple: Go to the clinic, get the forms signed by his doctor, then let the hospital take over. In reality, the doctor told her to take the forms to the medical records office. 'I asked, 'Well, why can't you just send it over?' To me, that was the logical assumption, as (the staff) should know the hospital better than me,' the 43-year-old recalled. The response was clear: She'd requested for the biopsy, so she had to bring the forms to the office herself. After a bout of 'challenging' wayfinding through the hospital, she found the office in the basement – only to be asked which type of slide the biopsy sample should be placed on. 'I said, 'I have no clue because the doctor ordered it, and it's going to the lab for a test, right?'' Lim said. 'And the staff replied, 'Yeah, but I need to know which slides you want.'' Lim asked if they could call the clinic to check – and was told, again, that she had to make the call herself as the requester. But the hospital being a public one, the phone lines were near impossible to get through. She had no choice but to choose a slide herself, picking from what made more sense. She was also told to expect a call to 'collect the slides' eventually. The biopsy sample, or body tissue, is placed on glass slides before being sent to a pathologist who examines the cells for diseases. 'So I asked, 'Why am I collecting them? Shouldn't they be sent to the lab?' I also tried asking them to call the clinic instead. Both times, they told me: 'You are the requester.'' Now able to laugh about her situation, Lim told CNA Women: 'And what was I supposed to do with the biopsy slides then? Put them in my fridge?' The executive director of DesignSingapore Council since May 2022, she now recognises the design-related pain points in her experience. The agency is a subsidiary under the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), which is itself a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. DesignSingapore has what she calls both 'social and economic mandates'. The first looks at the urban environment – how people live and interact in public and private spaces, how social organisation works, for instance. The latter is about how design can make businesses more competitive and innovative. Though Lim isn't aware if the hospital's process has changed since, she believes it was likely designed for 'optimal efficiency' within the institution by allowing the requester, usually the patient or caregiver, to take full ownership of their request – but overlooked the very same patient or caregiver's journey. In the end, she got through to the clinic and they sorted it out. She didn't have to collect the slides – but the experience stuck with her. 'Generally with sickness, it's already a very stressful situation. To navigate an institution's bureaucracy adds even more stress. I'm English-speaking so I can ask the right questions and try to manoeuvre around – but what if somebody else isn't?' she said. 'That informed a lot of my personal conviction about why good design is so important to us as a society, especially with an increasingly ageing population.' THE GOOD AND BAD OF EVERYDAY DESIGN Good design targets decision making and removes 'cognitive load', Lim believes. It should make 'everyday lived experiences' feel easy and seamless. And perhaps it begins with first noticing what doesn't work and why. Bad design is 'very easy to spot', she said – such as in the inconvenience and frustration she suffered navigating a hospital's system as her late father's caregiver. One of her pet peeves is locked wheelchair-accessible toilets in shopping malls. It's a practice driven by a fear of misuse, which she understands, but it ends up excluding those who need it the most. 'If someone with incontinence cannot wait 10 minutes (for the mall's staff to unlock the toilets), it becomes an embarrassing situation for them. It removes their dignity in a really challenging situation that they may face daily,' she said. Another instance of lacking design is the bustling intersection of Orchard Road and Scotts Road, which she often frames in a thought experiment: How might an able-bodied person cross from Wheelock Place to Tang Plaza? And how would, say, a wheelchair user or a parent with a pram do the same? An able-bodied person may take the escalator from the ground floor of Wheelock Place to its basement – it links to Orchard MRT station, which has an exit leading up to Tang Plaza. For a wheelchair user or parent pushing a pram, however, 'it's not so straightforward', she said. They may have difficulty even locating the lift in Wheelock Place to start. 'This is just a small example of how we don't always realise many things that are in our everyday places and spaces are not fully inclusive or accessible.' Good design, on the other hand, is often invisible 'because you almost live through it smoothly', Lim said. 'We don't always notice or appreciate it.' The app – a 'genius idea' – that allows drivers to pay for parking with a mobile device is her personal favourite. 'If I'm (held up), I don't have to leave where I am to walk back to my car to put another coupon. I just go onto the app and extend (my parking duration),' she said. 'It makes it easier for the user to get on with life.' And she often points to Changi Airport's unparalleled efficiency – the fact that you could spend less than 10 minutes from plane to cab – as a tangible example to educate others that good design is everywhere. 'Then, people get it. Raising awareness of our daily lived experience and how design shows up in the most innocuous ways tells a lot of the story itself,' she said. More recently, Singaporean designers showcased a spectrum of possible everyday design applications at Milan Design Week in April from furniture to medical technology, she added. A highlight was the 'digital twin' – a virtual replica of a real-world entity – of Changi General Hospital's (CGH) emergency department. It was designed by CGH and Singaporean companies, multi-disciplinary design agency Farm and cross-technology company Vouse, to enable the hospital to rethink operations and improve patient experience. Through simulations, the hospital would be able to see how people move around, how staff make decisions and how to deploy resources, among other scenarios. This makes it easier to find better ways to deliver care. 'Many people have the misconception that design equates to nice things, but nice things also need to work nicely. You can have both – it is not mutually exclusive,' Lim said. 'Let Singapore surprise you. We have more to offer than you would expect.' TAKING SINGAPORE DESIGN GLOBAL Unlike three of her four predecessors who were architects, and the fourth who worked briefly in a global design consultancy, Lim had no formal background in design. What she had was over a decade of experience in EDB – DesignSingapore's parent organisation and the lead government agency responsible for enhancing Singapore's position as a global business centre. While her role at DesignSingapore now requires her to dive deep into design knowledge, her prior stint at EDB taught her complementary skills by thinking about innovation 'very broadly'. This included how design was applied across research and development, product, and service areas among other functions. Her scope at EDB, including overseeing the independent execution of the agency's strategy and operations in Europe, taught to see the big picture to ensure Singapore was always 'internationally competitive'. 'That mindset is probably something quite embedded that I took with me into this role: What is Singapore design's competitive edge in the world? And what can we stand out for?' she said. FINDING THE COURAGE TO BE CREATIVE Putting Singapore design on the global stage, however, requires a fundamental mindset change involving creative confidence, competence and courage. 'Many people like to say Singaporeans are not creative … but we are very competent creatively. The fact that this country makes so many things work is creative,' Lim said. Singaporeans do have 'small 'c' creativity', she added. 'It's actually there every day. You look at these ground-up initiatives like Repair Kopitiam.' The community-driven programme encourages repair culture by getting people to first consider fixing their broken item before throwing it away. As for 'big 'C' creativity', she pointed to the NEWater process, which recycles Singapore's treated used water into ultra-clean, high-grade reclaimed water. 'So we have both ends of the spectrum of creativity. It's not that we're not creative, but we also must know how to recognise it exists in many different forms.' This starts with understanding what we mean when we talk about 'creativity', Lim noted. On one hand, there is the 'Silicon Valley type, where every day there's a startup that's invented and you hope that one of them becomes the next Facebook or Google'. On the other, there is 'creativity in terms of making changes to the everyday', she added. 'And I think there's space for both.' The issue is that Singaporeans often 'don't have enough courage to try', she believes. 'But the very definition of creativity means you must try and take risks. And when you don't practise it, you cannot build confidence. Then it becomes a cycle.' So she's convinced the 'crux of creativity' lies in not knowing the outcome but trying anyway – and knowing it is okay to get it wrong many times before finally getting it right. Importantly, this mindset shift starts from as early as primary school. The organisation's Learning By Design initiative brings together students, educators and sometimes parents to tackle a challenge within the school or wider community. In 2023, St Joseph's Institution students noticed 'quite a lot of elderly men lounging by themselves alone at kopitiams (coffee shops)' in Toa Payoh, and set out to create a 'community space' to address their social isolation. As with any discipline, there are professional qualifications and training in design, but there's also the aspect that's about encouraging 'a mindset of creative thinking that everybody can exercise', Lim explained. For when it works, good design makes all the difference. In healthcare, for example, it would involve training practitioners to deliver the human touch at critical points in the caregiver's journey, she added, speaking from experience. Eighteen months into her late father's treatment, she was referred to a palliative care institution. The first thing the chief medical officer asked: 'How are you doing as a caregiver?' 'Nobody in the entire journey of 18 months had ever asked how I – as the primary caregiver – was doing. And wow, that just changed the entire conversation,' she said. 'It wasn't about providing information. It was just someone acknowledging, 'Actually, it's hard on you, we know. We'll take care of you. We'll take care of your father.''
CNA
11 hours ago
- CNA
'I would never have suspected there were drugs': Doctor on trial for consuming MDMA at party says drink was spiked
SINGAPORE: A man on trial for consuming drugs at a Sentosa hotel villa in 2023 said that he had no idea the drinks he had accepted from strangers during a party were spiked. Dr Rayson Lee Rui Sheng, 35, testified on Monday (Jul 28) that it had not crossed his mind that drugs were involved in the birthday party that his partner had organised for a friend at Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa. "This is not something that I could have prevented ... I would never have suspected there were drugs there. None of my friends talk about drugs, none of my friends do drugs," said Dr Lee. Referring to Singapore's strict drug laws, he added: "Never in my mind would I have suspected that someone would have brought drugs to the party." Dr Lee and a co-accused Tan Li Ming, 28, are each contesting a single charge of consuming MDMA, a controlled drug also known as "ecstasy", on or before Aug 9, 2023. Both had attended the party between 8pm on Aug 8 and the early hours of Aug 9, 2023. Urine samples from Dr Lee and Tan were analysed by the Health Sciences Authority and found to contain MDMA. On Monday, Dr Lee resumed the stand to give his testimony while Tan observed in the dock. Both are represented by lawyer Tania Chin. Ms Chin took Dr Lee through the events that occurred from when he returned to the villa with his partner at about 2.45am on Aug 9, 2023, after briefly leaving for a club. Upon his return, he found that the number of party-goers had increased, with many unfamiliar faces. He later learned that many of these were foreigners hailing from countries like Australia and the United States. He commented to one of the party-goers, an Indonesian known as Richard, that the villa was "very crowded". "I was wondering where all these additional people came from. He was equally puzzled," said Dr Lee, adding that he thought the party would have died down by then. "I think it was a little bit odd when I asked them who invited them. I didn't even recognise the name of the person who called them as well, I thought it was a little bit odd that people were, like, calling without seeking permissions or something," he said. Richard then shared with Dr Lee an alcoholic beverage which he said he had taken from another party-goer at the dining area. According to Richard, the drink came from a person who had an "American accent", and who claimed that the beverage was a "cocktail" of the beverages available, which included gin, vodka and coke. While the defence has sought to call Richard as a witness, the Australian resident has declined to testify for fear of being detained upon entering Singapore. About an hour later, Dr Lee had a second drink offered by a foreigner. He said he accepted and shared the drink out of courtesy. Asked if he had asked what the drink was, Dr Lee said he had not as it "looked and tasted" the same as what he had had before. Dr Lee also maintained that he was aware of the kinds of alcohol available as he had made drinks for himself earlier. When presented with a list to identify the individuals who had offered him drinks, Dr Lee said he was unable to recall as there had been too many people. A total of 49 men had been arrested at the party. Ms Chin then asked if Dr Lee had suspected his drink had been spiked at that point, to which the latter said "definitely not". He would not have expected a "benign birthday celebration" which he had believed to be a "safe space" to have drugs, he told the court. His third drink, also from a stranger, came about an hour after the second. Each time Dr Lee took the drink, he felt "high", "happy" and a bit "light-headed"; however, he attributed the sensations to alcohol. At some point, Dr Lee felt overwhelmed by the crowd and went to the pool to take a break. He returned shortly before police officers arrived, at about 5.40am on Aug 9, 2023. Officers had received information about drug-related activity at the villa. POLICE ARRIVE Dr Lee said he initially believed that the police were investigating a noise complaint. He then noticed people forming a line to jump out of the bathroom window, which he felt was "odd". One of these people broke his leg from the attempt, according to Dr Lee, although he added that nobody knew who he was as he could not speak English. "I thought it was just a noise complaint, why would people be jumping out of the window?" he added. "The lights came on and the whole place was a bit more brightly lit, that was when I realised the extent of the movement of drugs, the extent of how many people were there and the presence of these drug-looking items," he said. As the police began gathering everyone into the living room, party goers were told to sit down and "shut up", Dr Lee said. Police officers then had "one-on-one" sessions with participants where they conducted searches on their belongings and bodies, Dr Lee said. Nobody owned up to the drugs or paraphernalia when asked by the police. Packets of drugs, pills and syringes, among other items, were found around the villa, including on a couch, under furniture and at a sink. Dr Lee maintained that he had not seen any of these items as they were in "obscure places" and the venue had been crowded. Dr Lee was also asked at length about previous instances where he could have consumed drugs, in particular during a trip to Pattaya, Thailand, in June 2023. While there, Dr Lee said that he had been pressured by a Thai national to consume pills, which he had believed were mints at first. He told the court that he regretted the incident and has since promised himself that he would never take pills from a stranger again. While mostly calm while on the stand, Dr Lee briefly revealed his frustration over his court case when asked about a statement recorded by an officer. This was when Dr Lee was asked why he had not admitted to the offence in his statement, despite his understanding that he could have been placed in a Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) or on a supervision order. Dr Lee said he had considered the option as "who in the right mind" would not have wanted to go on "the path of least resistance". "But I couldn't in good conscience admit to something that was not the truth," said an emotional Dr Lee, who pointed out that he now had to defend his innocence in court. Those assessed to be at low risk of offending could be placed on a supervision order, while those who undergo a DRC regime will not have a criminal record. PROSECUTION'S QUESTIONING After Ms Chin completed her questions, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jocelyn Teo cross-examined Dr Lee. She argued that the accused had taken the drugs knowingly as he enjoyed the euphoric and lightheaded sensations they caused. Part of the prosecution's argument hinged on the results from Dr Lee's hair sample. Three segments of his hair, each corresponding to different periods of time he allegedly consumed drugs, were analysed and found to contain MDMA and Ketamine. The time periods ranged from between January and late March 2023, between late March and late May 2023, and late May to late July 2023. Dr Lee could not explain why he tested positive for drugs for the periods between January and May 2023, but disagreed when Ms Teo suggested that he had consumed Ketamine and MDMA multiple times before Aug 9, 2023. Ms Teo also alleged that Dr Lee's defence of being spiked was "speculative" and an "afterthought" designed to "piggyback" off the same defence that his co-accused Tan was attempting to use. She led a series of questions about Dr Lee's alleged encounter with the Thai national who fed him pills in Pattaya. Asked if Dr Lee had been force-fed the pill and a drink to wash it down, Dr Teo said he had not been forced but that the incident took place "very fast". "So today, if someone told you to smoke a vape, you would also smoke a vape?" Ms Teo asked. "If someone asked you to jump (from) a building, you would jump?" she continued. Dr Lee replied that he "would not" to both questions. "So it wasn't necessary to comply with the Thai national, was it?" Ms Teo asked. Dr Lee agreed that his behaviour had been "foolish" and that he expressed his regret over the incident. Ms Teo also noted that Dr Lee would not have consumed unknown pills or unknown liquids as a doctor. She put to Dr Lee that he had "worked hard" to get to where he was as a doctor, and "would not jeopardise" his efforts, to which Dr Lee agreed. Yet Dr Lee had taken drinks from strangers, pointed out Ms Teo. To this, Dr Lee said that it was "quite common" in a club or a party to share drinks as long as the person did not appear suspicious or to be potentially harmful. He later said it was a "common social practice" to share or offer drinks as a form of "social lubricant" in such settings. "I never would have suspected there was anything else inside ... I didn't suspect that there would have been anything off," he said. Ms Teo also accused Dr Lee of having "deliberately shut (his) eyes" to the drug activity in the villa as none of these had been conducted secretly. Dr Lee disagreed. The trial will continue on Tuesday with Tan expected to take the stand.
CNA
11 hours ago
- CNA
Team lead of ICA's Visit Pass Unit sought sexual acts from men to help them with applications
SINGAPORE: An Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer who oversaw a team in the agency's Visit Pass Unit, which grants passes to foreigners, obtained sexual favours from six men in exchange for helping them get passes. Kannan Morice Rajagopal Jayaram, 55, pleaded guilty on Monday (Jul 28) to three charges of corruptly obtaining gratification in the form of sexual acts in exchange for helping the bribers with short-term visit pass applications. Another three similar charges involving three other men will be considered in sentencing, which was adjourned to August. Kannan, who has been suspended from duty, was an inspector with ICA at the time of the offences between 2022 and 2023. The court heard that he first joined ICA in 1996 and was promoted in November 2018 to become a team leader of the Visit Pass Unit. He was promoted to the rank of inspector in June 2021. As a team leader in the unit, he was responsible for overseeing a team of 10 to 11 ICA officers, who reported to him. The officers were tasked with processing any applications submitted by foreigners seeking to extend their stays in Singapore, such as applications to extend their short-term visit passes. The unit also handled cases involving overstayers in the country and cases involving the loss of travel documents. There were prevailing guidelines governing short-term visit pass extensions, but Kannan's subordinates had the discretion to grant or reject such extensions if there was enough justification to do so. They would usually consult Kannan, as he was their team leader, whenever they encountered difficulties with such extension applications. Kannan had the discretion to approve any short-term visit pass extension applications that were handled by his team. Occasionally, Kannan would man the walk-in counter at ICA's headquarters and personally attend to any such applicants wanting to renew their short-term visit passes. Kannan knew that it was not right for him to contact foreign short-term visit pass applicants and initiate sexual meet-ups with them, but he did so anyway. Court documents described how he had such encounters with three men. One of them, an Indian national then aged 26, was in Singapore to study hospitality management. He had received only in-principle approval for his student pass application at the point of entry into Singapore in March 2022, so he was given a short-term visit pass so he could continue to stay legally in Singapore while he waited to get his student pass. He had to repeatedly apply for extensions of his short-term visit pass at ICA's headquarters. He first got to know Kannan in October 2022 when he went to the headquarters for such an application. When he went back again in November 2022, Kannan attended to him personally, and they exchanged contact details. After the foreigner completed his application, Kannan contacted him on WhatsApp, asking to meet up. The foreigner initially declined as he was in school, but later called Kannan for help when his application was rejected. Kannan instructed the foreigner to bring his immigration documents and meet him at the void deck of a block of housing flats near Kallang MRT station on Dec 24, 2022. They went to a nearby supermarket where Kannan bought beer and took the foreigner back to his home, where they drank it. At Kannan's home, he instructed the foreigner to submit a short-term visit pass extension application on the ICA website. Kannah then called his subordinate who was at ICA's headquarters and instructed her to approve the application, granting a short-term visit pass for two weeks. He said he had granted the foreigner the "wrong number of days" for an earlier extension application. The officer followed Kannan's instructions, even though the foreigner's previous application had already been rejected. When the foreigner realised his application had been approved, he thanked Kannan and continued drinking beer with him. After this, Kannan asked for a kiss. The foreigner declined as he was not sexually attracted to Kannan. Kannan persisted, and the foreigner eventually acceded as he was "grateful to the accused for his help in granting" the application, said Deputy Public Prosecutors Bryan Wong and Benjamin Low. He was also afraid that Kannan would cancel the pass if he was rejected. They went to Kannan's bedroom, where Kannan performed sex acts on the foreigner. The foreigner later admitted that he would not have allowed Kannan to carry out those acts if he had not been an ICA officer with the capability to extend the pass. Kannan admitted that he knew the foreigner was not likely to reject his advances due to his status as an ICA officer. ICA previously said in a statement that it had received information on Kannan's acts and immediately reported him to the relevant authorities for further investigation. Kannan's case was adjourned to August for mitigation and sentencing.
