The authorities have pinned employees of the health network from all over Quebec who, for money, participated in the manufacture of thousands of fraudulent vaccine passports, learned The Press.
Posted at 5:00 p.m.
The Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC), but also the government and certain health establishments, are currently conducting investigations. Spinning, house searches, frozen bank accounts, seizure of telephones and other exhibits, regular interrogations: several means have been deployed and workers have been fired, according to several sources familiar with the matter who are not authorized to express publicly.
No charges have reportedly been brought before the court at this stage.
“We receive a very large number of denunciations which lead us to open a very large number of investigations and we put all the resources necessary for these investigations to bear fruit. This is a priority for the commissioner at the moment, because it affects the health of citizens, ”said UPAC spokesperson Mathieu Galarneau, who refuses to comment on the specific files or the number of suspects targeted.
“What we want is for people who have seen the use or manufacture of false vaccine passports to call us,” he said.
$60,000 for a single worker
According to our information, CISSSs and CIUSSSs were notably alerted by Quebec via the INSPQ in November 2021 of the existence of thousands of entries considered “abnormal” in the provincial vaccination register.
One of the employees fired after working in a vaccination center in the metropolis admitted to having collected around $ 60,000 in bribes, working alone, according to what La Presse was able to confirm.
Already, on December 22 and 23, Radio-Canada had reported an employee of a vaccination center in Montérégie who allegedly sold false proof of vaccination as well as an employee of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de- Island who was allegedly removed from vaccination for breaking safety rules. But these two cases represent a drop in the ocean, according to our sources, which confirm the holding of several parallel investigations and an explosion of suspected cases reported since the fall.
Echoes of rumors
The Legault government says it has had “echo of rumors concerning the manufacture and use of false vaccine passports last fall”. “We then notified the Ministry of Public Security, which also alerted the police,” added the Prime Minister’s Office in a short written statement.
As “the police, in particular the UPAC, have announced that investigations are currently taking place”, he limits his comments “so as not to harm” the work of the police.
“Producing and using a false vaccine passport is a criminal act, punishable by a heavy fine and even imprisonment”, he recalls in conclusion.
With the collaboration of Daniel Renaud and Tommy Chouinard