Maybe he was doing a bit of training with the Swiss team for the World Cup and so flying backwards and forwards?
Maybe it was a requirement for the Swiss team to have COVID certificates?
Not sure what point you are trying to make?
That the lie was unnecessary. Switzerland already qualified for the WC, job in London, no international matches at the time. It seems the 10-day quarantine for international travel was behind it, otherwise just live without the vaccine like many people did.
The big question is what motivated the prosecutor to raid the doctor’s office in Luzern. Once the doc’s archive was seized, someone found out a vaccine was delivered the very same day he was playing somewhere in the UK.
I found why investigators took their time to go after a doctor. A health insurance company filed a criminal complaint because they had suspicion about health insurance fraud: flamboyant professional activity + too many invoices.
In the Covid period, said Lucerne family doctor made headlines worldwide for allegedly finding an effective means of treating corona: opaganib. The drug was originally developed in cancer research, today it is testing applications in Ebola. But a breakthrough never happened.
The use in Covid patients took place within the framework of the «compassionate use», which allows the use of unapproved agents in severe cases. According to her own information, the doctor tested opaganib in five patients. She told the «Luzerner Zeitung» «spectacular» results..
For this she was massively criticized. Infectiologist Christian Garzoni described her actions as dangerous and warned that such statements generated false hopes. The Lucerne Cantonal Hospital also went the distance. A later controlled study did not provide the hoped-for proof of efficacy.
However, the doctor did not fall into the clutches of the judiciary because of this, but because of a criminal complaint from a health insurance company. The doctor had noticed because she billed above average many treatments.
Whether she cheated in the process is the subject of ongoing investigations. During a house search, of which the «Blick» first reported, the corona vaccine cases came to light. Apparently, the prosecution has doubts about the authenticity of the certificates issued. Why, you don’t know - the presumption of innocence applies.
OMG, I’m listening to one of my uncles right now: a big reason to not deal with people not following law is that they’re on average lazy, have above average risk tolerance, and below average intelligence. Regardless of number of years in school. They’re really good at misdemeanors and crimes, but very bad at tying up loose ends.
And the journalist had the same question as me, why?
I guess people are strange and that’s it.
I saw the news as well and while cheating and falsifying documents is a criminal offense, it really isn’t such a big deal - even if a large mass (let’s say 20% of the certificates) were that way - in the end, the handling of the pandemic never really got the retrospective it deserved imho - and some of the shenanigans we had going on were not necessary in retrospect.
I however also acknowledge that Switzerland had comparatively lax measures and that the vaccines were safe, despite some fake news going around. Some vaccines of course had aftermaths, like any other type of medication, but they were blown out of proportion by anti vaxers…
I refer you to the Crans Montana fire thread.
6 Likes
I think this sums up humanity in one sentence. 
Strange or diverse? Glass half empty or half full?
1 Like
haha.
Strange as in there was no motive to lie.
Fair point: I have to correct myself: Falsifying a Covid vaccination certificate isn’t such a big deal. A forged document can obviously be a huge deal.
Although if a doctor is happy to forge documents with respect to a global pandemic, what else are they forging?
Personally, I think if a doctor forges anything for personal gain, or in this case, perhaps, a misunderstanding of the science, they should be facing a prison term or massive fine, and get struck off.
1 Like
Well, it’s forging a medical record. I was surprised to learn than doctors must keep patient records for 20 years in case of complaints coming in the future. So, the issue with medical records is complaints about malpractice, serious stuff.
But, there are 2 way to break the law here:
- Forging a document (proven with the existence of the document)
- Using a forged document to get something done (intention to defraud must be proven)
It seems prosecutors have #1 in the bag for both doc and Mr. Xhaka.
#2 is easy to demonstrate for the doc because the doc tried to get money reimbursed from health insurance, literal intention to defraud.
#2 will be harder to demonstrate for the football player considering border officials were not mandated to check for it.
Up to five years in prison is not a big deal?
That’s apparently not very likely in this case as he is the captain of the Swiss-Albanian national football team and a fine (which he can easily afford) is more realistic.
According to the link I posted then even if he only gets a fine he will be a convicted felon which blocks him from a number of things like entering the US despite the fact the president is a convicted felon.
Didn’t Embolo enter USA without any problem just a few days later than his teammates? He couldn’t use ESTA, but he got the US visa.
I think we need to keep the view on this more realistic. Criminal law isn’t a moralist and pure judging vehicle - falsifying information has a huge bandwidth of severity. Think: Falsifying a notary contract of a 3 digit billion building project vs. a Covid cert… (that’s like the lowest thing I can think of)
That’s not how this usually works - fines and penalties that don’t carry a prison sentence are usually not relevant for these types of visits. The thresholds for felony, misdemeanor etc. are also different between countries.
There are like a few million Canabis consumers entering the US, despite being sentenced - not to mention that the US doesn’t really have access to this information either way.
This is beyond Covid, this is proper legal drama, popcorn time:
Mr. Xhaka’s PR person confused everyone. The PR guy told media that the 2nd vaccination in Luzern took place in a day that Mr. Xhaka was playing in the UK. Demolishing facts…this is fraud, right?
Only issue, is that the PR gux mixed the dates. Talking to the media to clarify the events, but making the situation more confusing at the same time.
The fake certificate is said to have been issued by a doctor from Lucerne. Xhaka himself does not comment, but his spokesman Andreas Bantel does. In an initial statement on Friday evening, he said: "Xhaka has received confirmation from the attending doctor that he will be on the 25th. January 2022 for the first time and on the 11th November 2022 was vaccinated against Covid for the second time.” Only: That’s not quite true.
Bild had access to the allegedly fake vaccination certificate. The second vaccination took place on 8. November, not on the 11th. November, as Xhaka’s spokesman initially claimed. The first vaccination, on the other hand, actually dates from the 25 January 2022., according to the documents.
Upon request, Bantel confirms that Xhaka received the second vaccination on 8. November. The spokesperson said: “I ask you to forgive this lapse regarding the date that happened to me in the heat of battle.”
And the doc also talked to Bild:
Doctor Andrea L. disagrees: “I actually vaccinated him, witnesses confirm it”
The football player has reported that he had already contracted Covid in early 2021. “Because he already possessed antibodies, the first vaccination was intended as a booster,” explains the doctor. Only one vaccination was necessary. She issued him the certificate on it. According to Andrea L., it only needed one vaccination for the certificate – but it actually took place
Strange to talk to media because because now both sides are at a standoff. Beyond the alleged forgery of documents, the declarations of each side to media can be regarded as defamation.
My understanding as ignorant member of the public is that Mr. Shaka now needs to prove that the vaccination never took place, thus the certificate is fake. This is a weird defense strategy: proving the misconduct of oneself as defense.
Of course, whatever is said to media is legally useless. But, did the public admission of guilt was premature. It would be really funny if the prosecution can’t prove what Mr. Xhaka claims.
Assumption of innocence?
Xhaka innocent? You clearly do not watch much soccer.
He simply forgot that his covid infection counts as vaccination because it provides equivalent protection, and turns the first vaccination shot into a booster. The infection probably earned him a vaccination certificate but he forgot about that.