Two Singaporeans and an employment agency charged with offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act
On 28 May 2026, two Singaporeans, Zhao Yanxiao ("Zhao") and Hu Yuping ("Hu"), and an employment agency, Wonderful Agency Pte Ltd ("Wonderful"), were charged in Court for offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act 1990 ("EFMA") involving false declaration of salaries, employment and the collection of kickbacks.
Case Details
2 Investigations revealed that between December 2024 and August 2025, Zhao, a 43-year-old female Singaporean who was an Employment Agency Personnel of Wonderful, had allegedly made false declarations in 14 work pass applications, by declaring workers hired under the Non-Traditional Source Occupation List (NTS-OL) scheme as food processing workers earning monthly salaries of $2,000. In reality, these workers were deployed to massage parlours, beauty salons and spa establishments to perform non-food processing work, and were not paid the declared salaries.
3 Hu, a 58-year-old female Singaporean and manager of a massage establishment, allegedly abetted Wonderful in falsely declaring the occupation of a migrant worker as a food processing worker when the worker was in fact deployed to work as a masseuse. Hu was also charged for allegedly obtaining a kickback of $500 from the worker as a condition for employment.
4 The details of the charges against Zhao, Hu and Wonderful are set out in the Annex below.
Penalties for False Declaration and Collection of Kickbacks
5 Under the EFMA, the offence of making a false declaration in relation to a work pass application carries a fine of up to $20,000, an imprisonment term of up to two years, or both. MOM will also bar entities or individuals convicted of such offences from employing foreign workers. The offence of collecting kickbacks carries a fine of up to $30,000, an imprisonment term of up to two years, or both.
6 All employment agencies and employers are required to make accurate, complete and truthful declarations to the Controller of Work Passes in their work pass applications. Making false declarations is a serious offence as it undermines the integrity of MOM’s work pass framework and may expose vulnerable workers to exploitation. MOM will not hesitate to take strong enforcement actions against such unlawful acts.
7 Members of the public who are aware of suspicious employment activities, or who know of persons or employers who contravene the EFMA, should report the matter to MOM via MOM’s eService “Report an infringement”. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
## End of Release ##
Annex
Charges against Zhao Yanxiao
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S/N
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Offence Type
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Charges
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Penalties
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1
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False declaration of employment
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12 charges under s 22(1)(d) r/w s 20(1)(a) of the EFMA for making false declarations of employment by Wonderful Agency Pte Ltd, in her capacity as its Employment Agency Personnel, by declaring in 12 work pass applications that the workers would be employed as food processing workers when this was not going to be the case.
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The offence carries a fine of up to $20,000, an imprisonment term of up to two years, or both, per charge. MOM will also bar convicted individuals from employing foreign workers.
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2
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False declaration of salary
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2 charges under s 22(1)(d) r/w s 20(1)(a) of the EFMA for making false declarations of salary by Wonderful Agency Pte Ltd, in her capacity as its Employment Agency Personnel, by declaring in 2 work pass applications that the workers would be paid a fixed monthly salary of $2,000, when this was not going to be the case.
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The offence carries a fine of up to $20,000, an imprisonment term of up to two years, or both, per charge. MOM will also bar convicted individuals from employing foreign workers.
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Charges against Wonderful Agency Pte Ltd
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S/N
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Offence Type
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Charges
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Penalties
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1
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False declaration of employment
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12 charges under s 22(1)(d) of the EFMA for making false declarations in work pass applications, by declaring that the workers would be employed as food processing workers when this was not the case.
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The offence carries a fine of up to $20,000 per charge.
|
|
2
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False declaration of salary
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2 charges under s 22(1)(d) of the EFMA for making false declarations in work pass applications, by declaring that the workers would be paid a fixed monthly salary of $2,000 when this was not the case.
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The offence carries a fine of up to $20,000 per charge.
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Charges against Hu Yuping
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S/N
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Offence Type
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Charges
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Penalties
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1
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False declaration of employment
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1 charge under s 22(1)(d) r/w s 23 of the EFMA for abetting Wonderful Agency Pte Ltd in making a false declaration in a work pass application, by declaring that a worker would be employed as a food processing worker for a massage establishment, when this was not going to be the case.
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The offence carries a fine of up to $20,000, an imprisonment term of up to two years, or both, per charge. MOM will also bar convicted individuals from employing foreign workers.
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2
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Collection of kickbacks
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1 charge under s 22A(1)(a) of the EFMA for collecting a sum of $500 from a worker as a financial guarantee related to the worker’s employment.
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The offence carries a fine of up to $30,000, an imprisonment term of up to two years, or both, per charge.
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