SINGAPORE: A doctor accused of giving fake COVID-19 jabs to patients claimed that the police asked him to name Healing the Divide founder Iris Koh as the “mastermind” of a scheme to secure a recommendation for bail.
Dr Jipson Quah, 36, testified on Wednesday (Mar 12) to the events leading up to and after he had been arrested for his alleged offences.
Recalling one of his interviews with the police, Dr Quah, who is currently suspended from practice, said one of the officers asked why he was protecting Koh, and about his relationship with her. Koh is the founder of a group which is known to be against COVID-19 vaccination.
“He asked if she was my aunt or relative or lover – I said ‘no’. I said, ‘Have you looked at her, she is old, fat and crazy’,” said Dr Quah, prompting laughter in the courtroom, including from Koh herself in the dock.
Koh, Dr Quah and his assistant Thomas Chua stand accused of a criminal conspiracy to cheat the Health Promotion Board (HPB) that people were immunised with the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine when they were not. The offences span periods in 2021 and 2022.
Dr Quah is contesting 17 such charges.
The trial for all three accused started on Dec 16, 2024, but entered an ancillary hearing shortly after to determine the admissibility of six police statements in court as evidence.
This was after Quah’s lawyer Adrian Wee objected to the statements being admitted as evidence based on how they were allegedly recorded under circumstances which involved threat, inducement or promise.
An ancillary hearing is a trial within a trial during which the court determines issues that could impact the proceedings in the main trial.
“I BROKE DOWN IN THE CELL”: DR QUAH
Dr Quah took the stand for the first time on Tuesday, with Mr Wee asking him about his career and education.
On Wednesday, Mr Wee took his client through the time he was interviewed by the Ministry of Health on Jan 20, 2022 before he was handed over to the police at the Police Cantonment Complex on the morning of Jan 21, 2022.
Dr Quah recalled long hours between interviews and being very tired as he was awake for more than 26 hours at some point.
His request to go home or buy some food was rejected and Dr Quah was then told by the police that he would be arrested.
“I was first handcuffed – which shocked me greatly – then I was told to surrender my belongings and change into the remand uniform,” he said.
After he was processed into lockup, Dr Quah said he “broke down in the cell”.
“I was crying in the cell,” he said.
“I was upset at my circumstance where I am now remanded for an alleged offence. I had a lot of work to deal with and get back to, and I had no idea of when things were going to get better basically,” he said.
Dr Quah had not been in touch with his family or colleagues while in the complex.
That afternoon, Dr Quah was charged via videolink, with the prosecution applying for a further remand period for investigations.
“I was naturally devastated. I quickly processed my situation and what I could do to seek legal counsel,” he said.
After he was charged, Dr Quah said he felt “even more devastated”.
“I went back to my cell and broke down again, and my cellmate encouraged me to eat something as I had not eaten for a long time.”
Dr Quah was remanded from Jan 21, 2022 to Jan 31, 2022, when he was released.
LOW MOOD, CLINIC RAIDS
Dr Quah described his low mood during his remand period, which culminated in a visit to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).
By then, Dr Quah said his “emotional and psychological state were crumbling” and he had negative thoughts about his circumstances, including thoughts of suicide.
He testified that he had not been able to speak to any colleagues from his clinics or laboratories, save for a moment where he “caught a glimpse” of them and shouted “get me Shashi Nathan”, referring to a lawyer.
Mr Wee responded that while dramatic, that detail was not relevant to court proceedings.
Asked to recall how he came to be brought to IMH, Dr Quah said he woke one day feeling “despondent and terrible”.
“I thought of different methods to end my life which would be less painful and plausible when I was in remand, and I thought about when I might do it.
“I knew that any suicide would require a coroner’s case and correspondingly an autopsy, and I didn’t want my ex-colleagues to perform an autopsy on me so I said, ‘Well this is not good, I need to see the doctor in remand’.”
Even then, Dr Quah alleged that he worried about prolonging his remand.
Meanwhile, the doctor was also brought to his clinics for raids where the police confiscated invoices and patient lists.
He also had six statements recorded from him by Investigation Officer (IO) Ng Shiunn Jye.
On Jan 28, 2022, IO Ng showed Dr Quah a photo of his son – sent by Dr Quah’s girlfriend – who was celebrating his birthday that day.
“I broke down again having seen the picture of my son and asked him when can I get bail,” said Dr Quah.
According to him, IO Ng responded that Dr Quah needed to cooperate with investigations so that the police could recommend him for bail when investigations concluded.
IO Ng then offered him a canned drink – Oldenlandia water – and a vacuum-sealed packet of bak kwa (barbecued pork) from a cardboard box, said Dr Quah.
He recalled telling IO Ng during an earlier raid that Oldenlandia water was his favourite drink.
INTERVIEW WITH POLICE SUPERVISOR
Dr Quah also testified that IO Ng had led him to another room to meet his supervisor, Head Investigation (HI) Tan Pit Seng.
“I was a bit surprised because this was something new,” said Dr Quah, denying the suggestion that he had requested to see IO Ng’s supervisor.
“(HI Tan) strikes me as a very well-dressed and well-groomed individual. He was wearing tailored clothes, nice shoes, his hair was nicely styled. He was neat and proper in appearance. And struck me as an important person. This is in contrast with my IO, who was usually dressed in polo and jeans.”
He added that HI Tan’s watch was the most memorable feature, as it was a “beautiful” Rolex.
After HI Tan introduced himself, Dr Quah asked when he could be released on bail, but the police officer replied that Dr Quah had not expressed “enough remorse and cooperation”.
The two then discussed Dr Quah’s family, his son’s birthday, his career and Koh.
“(HI Tan) asked me why am I protecting Iris Koh and who is she to you. I was surprised to hear that, because I didn’t think that I had been protecting anybody and least of all Iris Koh. I then explained that I barely know her actually.”
Then followed HI Tan’s query on whether Koh was Dr Quah’s relative or lover, to which Dr Quah denied.
“He wanted me to say that she had been the mastermind of all these … allegations,” said Dr Quah.
“He first established that I was not related to her, then he questioned me why I was protecting her – which I said I was not – then he said, ‘Since you are such a successful doctor making so much money – more than me at your age – you have no need to do such acts’. Which I replied, ‘You are right, I don’t’. Then he said, ‘So someone else must have done it’.”
HI Tan then allegedly suggested that Dr Quah could show remorse and cooperation by naming Koh as the “mastermind” of the scheme. That way, the police could complete investigations and obtain a bail recommendation for him, Dr Quah said.
Dr Quah understood this to mean that he had to implicate Koh as the mastermind and “present this lie” to secure his release on bail before Chinese New Year.
He agreed to implicate Koh in his upcoming statement.
“My son’s birthday was already over on the 28, (the first day of Chinese New Year) is first of February.
“So from what I understand from HI Tan, the faster I provide this statement regarding Ms Koh, the faster investigations would be completed and correspondingly a bail recommendation,” he said.
The trial continues on Wednesday afternoon with the prosecution’s cross-examination of Dr Quah.
