A doctor from the Liège region suspected of issuing 2,000 false coronavirus vaccination certificates to create fake Covid Safe Tickets (CST) was arrested on Wednesday evening.
The doctor, who was at the centre of an investigation for forgery and use of forgeries following a complaint and a civil action by Aviq (the Walloon government’s Care and Health service), was arrested by the Charleroi Federal Judicial Police (PJF), Charleroi's public prosecutor Vincent Fiasse confirmed to Belga news agency.
No further comments were made on the case, however, the doctor will appear before an investigating judge on Thursday afternoon. Fiasse also said on Tuesday that the doctor faces a five- to ten-year prison sentence and that the patients will also face prosecution.
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As of 9 November, sentences for people who use a fake Covid Safe Ticket (CST) or Passenger Location Form (PLF) in Belgium were tightened. They will now immediately be summoned to the correctional court and risk a prison sentence.
'Breach of trust'
Aviq discovered some irregularities in the encoding of vaccines by the doctor in question, as he was vaccinating an irregular number of people, including people who came from all over the region.
Allegedly, he was issuing vaccination certificates to patients who had not been vaccinated, meaning a green tick would appear if the CST's vaccination element was scanned.
“This is a breach of trust towards the people vaccinated and all the doctors who work hard in the vaccination centres,” said Walloon Health Minister Christie Morreale, who revealed the incident on LN24.
“We had to react in a firm manner, we will not let this kind of practice pass. We will take legal action whenever necessary because this is irresponsible behaviour that puts lives at risk.”
