KUALA LUMPUR: The syndicate that deceived the National Registration Department (NRD) into issuing legitimate birth certificates – using forged documents and fraudsters posing as relatives – is believed to have charged parents with adopted or stateless children up to RM50,000 each.
According to a source, the syndicate employed individuals to pose as relatives of a newborn and submit forged documents at the NRD counter for the birth registration process.
"The forged documents, issued by legal practitioners and doctors, were prepared by the syndicate.
"After the 'relative' obtains a birth certificate from the NRD, the syndicate will then sell it on the black market – often to parents or guardians willing to pay a high price," the source revealed.
According to the source, each forged birth certificate could fetch RM10,000 to RM50,000 each.
The source also said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is still investigating of there are any other agents and middlemen involved.
"Under Ops Outlander, only one officer of a government agency has been arrested so far," the source said.
The MACC has frozen 11 bank accounts containing funds totalling RM100,000 and seized 30 documents as part of its investigation.
On March 11, sixteen individuals aged from 20 to 80 were nabbed in the Klang Valley and Johor under Ops Outlander and Ops Birth.
Among those detained were a civil servant, a medical practitioner with a "Datuk Seri" title, a legal practitioner, as well as agents and birth registration applicants.
They are suspected of committing offences between 2013 to 2018 and 2023 to 2025 involving bribery and the preparation and submission of false birth confirmation documents. – Bernama
