Employer Pleads Guilty to Hiring Phantom Workers
Two others charged for similar offences
An employer has pleaded guilty to falsely declaring the number of local workers employed in order to inflate his foreign worker entitlement. Sulaiman Bin Abdullah @ Tommy Goh Beng Hock, the Director of Restu Muslim Seafood Restaurant Pte Ltd located at Blk 138 Tampines Street 11 pleaded guilty to 5 charges with 5 other charges taken into consideration. He will be sentenced on 26 March 2009.
2 In a separate development, the cases against two other accused persons charged for similar offences were also mentioned in Court today. Teng Joon Fong, the Operations Manager of another company, Entrade Marine and Industrial Pte Ltd located at Block 462 Crawford Lane 3. He faces 33 charges of making false declarations in work pass applications, while Wong Piang Kai, the sole Proprietor of Yuenson Packaging Pte Ltd located at 1 Ubi Crescent, faces 50 charges. Besides these cases, 14 other employers involved in construction, marine, logistics, restaurant and manufacturing businesses face 571 similar charges. This brings the total to 664 charges against 17 businesses. Please refer to Annex A for a breakdown of these ‘phantom' worker cases. Further facts on the conviction can be found below:
Restu Muslim Seafood Restaurant Pte Ltd
3 Sulaiman made CPF contributions for five Singaporeans who were actually not employed by the business. Four were ex-workers while another had never worked for the business. He then made a total of 10 work permit applications in which he declared that the company had only included CPF contributions made to persons actively employed by the company. He was prosecuted on 10 charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. The prosecution proceeded against him on 5 counts and applied for the remaining 5 charges to be taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing.
Errant Employers to Stop Practice Immediately
4 "The successful conviction is a strong reminder to employers of the seriousness of the offence. MOM will adopt a zero-tolerance approach with respect to ‘phantom' worker cases.” said Aw Kum Cheong, Divisional Director, Foreign Manpower Management Division.
5 MOM has in place stringent processes and checks to flag out unusual company profiles that may indicate the use of 'phantom' workers. On-site checks are also conducted at companies to ascertain if the employees are indeed working for the company. Employers who have resorted to ‘phantom' workers should immediately stop doing so and employ genuine local workers or cancel the work permits of their existing foreign workers to ensure compliance with foreign worker quotas.
False Declarations in Work Pass Application an Offence
6 Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, inflating the foreign worker entitlement by falsely declaring the number of local workers is punishable with a fine of up to $15,000, or 12 months imprisonment, or both. Besides the employer, the 'phantom' worker may also face prosecution for abetting the offence.
7 The Ministry would also like to urge anyone with specific information on such offences to contact MOM at (65) 6438 5122 or via email at mom_fmmd@mom.gov.sg.
Annex A: List of Persons Charged as of 13 March 2009
|
Person charged
|
Company
|
Sector
|
Number of charges under EFMA/EFWA
|
Date Charged
|
|
Teng Joon Fong
Operations Manager
|
Entrade Marine
& Industrial Pte Ltd
|
Marine
|
33
|
13 Mar 09
|
|
Wong Piang Kai
Sole Proprietor
|
Yuenson Packaging Pte Ltd
|
Manufacturing
|
50
|
13 Mar 09
|
|
Tay Hian Chye
Director
|
SME Group of Companies
|
Services
|
101
|
6 Mar 09
|
|
Soo Eng Yong
Sole Proprietor
|
Superb Plastics
|
Manufacturing
|
30
|
6 Mar 09
|
|
Liu Li-Liu
Manager
|
Superb Plastics
|
Manufacturing
|
48
|
6 Mar 09
|
|
Teo Kok Leong
Sole Proprietor
|
Polo Mfg
|
Manufacturing
|
18
|
6 Mar 09
|
|
Lim Chye Cheng
|
SME Group of Companies
|
Services
|
101
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Lee Kong Weng
Director
|
SME Group of Companies
|
Services
|
101
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Toh Eng Hock @ Toh Ah Hock
Director
|
Toh Eng Hock Construction Pte Ltd
|
Construction
|
28
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Teong Tye Soon
Director
|
Voyager Control Services Pte Ltd
|
Marine
|
39
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Tan Cheng Cheng
Director
|
TNS Logistics Pte Ltd
|
Services
|
25
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Jamali Bakran
Director
|
Weldtech Inspection Services Pte Ltd
|
Marine
|
20
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Chew Beng Huat
Manager
|
TNS Logistics Pte Ltd
|
Services
|
15
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Lim Chek Chee
Sole Proprietor
|
Lim Kopi Holdings Pte Ltd
|
Services
|
13
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Woon Siew Chor @ Mun Siew Chor
Sole Proprietor
|
Weng Sang Brothers Company
|
Manufacturing
|
17
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Sulaiman Bin Abdullah @ Goh Beng Hock Tommy
Director
|
Restu Muslim Seafood Restaurant Pte Ltd
|
Services
|
10
|
27 Feb 09
|
|
Sambnani Anil Pritamdas
Owner
|
Spize - the Makan Place
|
Services
|
15
|
24 Nov 08
|