HONG KONG: Mikhy Farrera Brochez, the US citizen believed to have leaked confidential information from Singapore’s HIV registry, ran an education centre for special needs children in Hong Kong, local media found on Thursday (Feb 21).
For this, he could faces charges of fraud in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported, on top of being wanted in Singapore for the leak that affected 14,200 people.
Brochez, 34, is listed on a website as one of the nine members of staff at Guia Education, which charges up to HK$8,000 (S$1,480) for each assessment of a child with special needs.
“We envision a society where each child, irrespective of background or ability, receives an affordable, easily accessible, world-class education in a compassionate and inclusive environment,” the site says.
Brochez is described as executive director, with the credentials “APA, APS, MCollT, MS DPSY, DipED”. APA refers to the American Psychological Association and APS to the American Physiological Society.
But neither Brochez nor any of Guia Education’s staff are on the APA member database, wrote the Post, citing an APA spokesperson.
Mikhy Farrera-Brochez is listed as Guia Education’s executive director on its website, with five different credentials from various organisations under his name.
The website was created in December 2009, about two years after Brochez moved to Singapore. It was last updated on Feb 14, 2015. The last post on the school’s Facebook page, which mostly shared media articles, was in March 2016.
The site also listed the Guia Education office address as the 16th floor of Island Place, King’s Road No 500 in North Point, but according to the Post, there is no Guia Education office to be found in the area.
There are also no corporate filings for Guia Education in Companies Registry records, the report added.
Island Place, King’s Road No. 500 in North Point, Hong Kong. (Photo: Google Maps)
University professor Dr Alex Chan Chi-keung told the Post that it is not uncommon for those with questionable credentials to practise educational psychology in Hong Kong due to the lack of regulation. Still, lawyer Albert Luk Wai-hung said Brochez could face fraud charges and more if he had had any clients.
READ: HIV data leak – What we know about Mikhy Farrera Brochez
READ: The leaking of Singapore’s HIV registry records and the hunt for Mikhy Farrera Brochez – a timeline
“A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR”
Brochez made headline news in January when Singapore’s health ministry announced he had leaked the HIV-positive status of 14,200 people, along with confidential information such as their identification numbers and contact details.
Brochez had been deported earlier in April 2018 after serving 28 months in jail for fraud and drug-related offences, one of which was lying about his HIV status to gain an employment pass.
READ: “It’s very traumatic” – HIV-positive individuals anxious, frustrated after MOH data leak
Investigators had also found that Brochez lied about his educational qualifications to apply for jobs, having forged certificates from the likes of Vanderbilt University and the University of Paris.
After Singapore’s announcement of the leak, Brochez attempted to clear his name through several posts on Facebook. But authorities refuted his claims and called him “a pathological liar”.
“Mikhy Brochez lied about the identity of his mother, he lied about his own identity in his passport, he lied about his educational qualifications, he lied about his HIV positive status, and he is now lying about what he did,” Senior Minister of State for Health and Law Edwin Tong had said.
Brochez is now in the United States. He appeared in a Kentucky court on Monday after being arrested in December and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing for refusing to leave his mother’s home.
