Terrebonne man pocketed $150,000 from helping people get fake COVID-19 vaccine passports

A QR code is scanned, in Montreal, Wednesday, September 1, 2021.(Graham Hughes, The Canadian Press)

A former worker at a COVID-19 vaccination centre pleaded guilty after he made $150,000 from helping hundreds of Quebecers obtain fake vaccination passports during the height of the pandemic.

Adams Diwa, 24, pleaded guilty to fraud, falsifying documents and breach of trust for infractions committed between September and November 2021.

The CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’île-de-Montréal hired Diwa in March 2021 to enter proof of vaccination data into the Quebec vaccination registry, according to the statement of facts filed in Quebec Superior Court.

The Terrebonne man then asked accomplices to get hundreds of peoples' names who wanted proof of vaccination.

"Between Sept. 5 and Nov. 7, 2021, while the accused was working at the Olympic Stadium vaccination site, he registered nearly 1,250 false vaccines in the vaccination registry at the benefit of 630 users," the court document reads. 

Once entered, the users could download their vaccine passports.

The document says Diwa used his own user code for most of the registrations, except those entered for his family (nine people) and himself.

The majority of the money he made was found in his personal bank account, and police seized just over $30,000 when they raided his home.

The vaccine passport program remained in place in Quebec for six and a half months from Sept. 1, 2021, to March 14, 2022.

The federal program remained in place for travel until June 20, 2022.

Diwa is slated to return to court in August.