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