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KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian gynecologist accused of
running a baby-selling racket has been charged with cheating and
forgery over the creation of false identities for the newborns, a
report said Tuesday.
Robert Luk was slapped with eight
counts in courts in southern Johor state, including falsifying
information about the biological parents of four babies to obtain
birth certificates, the New Straits Times said.
Luk was also charged with using
forged application forms for the birth documents and for lying over
the identity of the biological parents. He, however, pleaded not
guilty to all the allegations, the newspaper said.
The police arrested the
61-year-old gynecologist last month after uncovering the
baby-selling ring in Johor, which neighbors Singapore.
Four infants were seized in the
raid, while 23 people were detained including clinic staff and a
government registrar from the National Registration Department.
The syndicate reportedly bought
babies from poor women who were talked out of having abortions, and
then sold them to childless couples.
The couples paid up to 20,000
ringgit ($6,200) for a baby, depending on their race, while the
birth mothers were paid as little as 700 ringgit but given free
healthcare and accommodation during their pregnancy.
--AFP
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