Report 2021-2022 | UPAC has seen all the colors with fake vaccine passports

(Quebec) Denunciations to the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) increased by 139% this year, due to numerous reports of the fabrication of false vaccine passports in the health network. In documents obtained by The Pressthe police are talking about money-counting machines, luxury goods, lists of buyers circulating on encrypted apps and the seizure of hundreds of thousands of dollars in connection with the investigations into this phenomenon.

UPAC presented its annual report on Tuesday, which reports 795 reports of wrongdoing received during the year 2022, including around 300 in connection with the production of false vaccine passports.

“The pandemic had a direct impact on the number of denunciations last year and also on the volume of work. Since it was people who held public office who had made false vaccine passports, this is why UPAC got involved, ”explained the commissioner for the fight against corruption, Frédérick Gaudreau, in conference. press in Quebec.

The organization says it has opened 41 investigations related to vaccine passports. Already, 69 statements of offense have been issued to people who acquired the fraudulent vaccine evidence, while criminal charges have been brought against three employees of the health network who allegedly produced the false documents.

“These are people the population trusts and it takes a high standard of integrity,” commented Mr. Gaudreau about the arrested employees. This phenomenon also posed “an important public health issue”, he says.

In an affidavit filed in court and seen by The Press, a sergeant-investigator from UPAC goes even further. “The fabrication of false vaccine evidence represents an attack on the integrity of the state,” regardless of whether it is the work of officials, she says, because vaccine passports are official government documents.

Others are expected to be charged in 2023, including fraud, breach of trust by a public official, fraud against the government, conspiracy, forging and laundering the proceeds of crime.

easy money

It was in November 2021 that UPAC was mandated to deal with investigations into fraudulent vaccine passports. Police forces throughout Quebec were then receiving reports and the decision was made to centralize the files within the police force specializing in the fight against corruption. A team of investigators assigned to this phenomenon has been set up within the organization.

The police have seen it all. They seized more than $130,000, including $30,000 in cash, from an administrative agent hired through the “I Contribute” site to do data entry at the vaccination center at the Olympic Stadium. The employee in question, Adams Diwa, told The Press last January having entered false proof of vaccination into the computer system for around 60 people. “It was very easy money and their security was so poor, it’s like they’re telling you: do it! “, he explained in an interview.

According to the affidavits of the investigators filed in court, however, 624 people benefited from his services illegally. UPAC says the man was getting names to enter and money from a matchmaker who contacted him through an encrypted app. Mr. Diwa has not been charged at this stage and the investigation into him is continuing. The UPAC, which is conducting several investigations at the same time, says it has prioritized certain urgent cases for the filing of charges.

Searches in other cases resulted in the seizure of several money-counting machines, a large collection of hockey and baseball cards, jewelry, luxury clothing and tens of thousands of dollars in cash.

The questioning of suspects who worked in the health network also shows that other lists of buyers were circulating on encrypted applications.

A search of a friend of one of the suspects caused problems when it came time to seize a package of $7,000 in cash, according to court documents. The UPAC believed that it was the result of the sale of vaccine passports, but the resident of the premises quickly claimed possession of the loot, explaining that she had earned it through prostitution, which could put the sum out to anti-corruption investigators.

In at least one file, the police believe that a nurse was corrupted by a man who associated with a group of hitmen linked to street gangs of “red” allegiance in Montreal North and who wanted to obtain false evidence. vaccination, again according to the investigation documents filed in court.

For a while, the police feared that a structured organization was coordinating the trafficking and production of false vaccine passports across Quebec, but despite lengthy investigative efforts, they found no evidence to that effect. The corrupt health workers appeared to operate in isolation and had no identifiable common contacts. The trail of a network has proven to be “a dead end” so far, says a detective sergeant in his affidavit.

Exponential increase in volume

Commissioner Frédérick Gaudreau says his investigators face significant challenges in their investigations into corruption in general, including the “exponential” increase in the volume of evidence.

The proliferation of computer media means that a search often leads to the seizure of millions of pages of documents, while case law favors maximum disclosure of evidence to the accused. Several major files led by different police organizations have fallen through due to the difficulty of managing this voluminous evidence in recent years.

Sorting out material that could be protected by solicitor-client privilege is also tedious in corruption cases: UPAC estimates that it takes on average around 1,000 days to have access to evidence in these cases due to of this exercise, which could be facilitated by a new legislative framework.

“It is the federal legislator who must be challenged” for this purpose, says the commissioner.

With the collaboration of Daniel Renaud, The Press