SINGAPORE, July 3 — They would set up bogus companies to attract foreign workers and offer them employment when there were no actual jobs, gaining large amounts of profit from collecting kickbacks.
The victims, left jobless, would then have to sustain their own upkeep and maintenance.
Desperate foreign workers would be asked to pay large sums of money to get genuine work pass, thereby including them in the scam. After receiving their documents, these workers would then seek employment elsewhere illegally.
For their suspected involvement in bringing in foreign workers for illegal employment, 41 people were arrested during an island-wide operation on Wednesday and yesterday, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a press release yesterday.
Members of six syndicates, including the alleged mastermind, were among those arrested.
“This operation to weed out syndicates involved in the illegal importation of labour is part of MOM’s overall enforcement strategy,” said Kevin Teoh, divisional director of MOM’s foreign manpower management division.
“This is to ensure a level playing field in the employment landscape such that law abiding employers are not disadvantaged. We will continue to use the full force of the law to take perpetrators who deliberately circumvent our work pass framework to task,” said Teoh.
Employers cannot hire foreign workers who are seeking their own employment or come from companies which do not have any contractual relationship, as it is tantamount to illegal employment.
The ministry said that foreign workers who hold a valid work permit but have been asked by their official employers to find their own work should report this immediately to the ministry.
The MOM said it has dismantled three syndicates over the past year, which were involved in setting up seven companies that had brought in about 500 workers involved in illegal employment.
A total of 19 syndicate members have been apprehended. Investigations are ongoing.
For being the mastermind of a syndicate that imports foreign workers for illegal employment, the offender may be fined up to S$6,000 (RM16,703.70) and/or jailed between six months to two years per worker.
If convicted of at least six similar offences at the same trial, the offender is liable to caning. The runners who abet the offence will face similar punishment.
Employers who hire foreign workers seeking illegal employment may be fined between S$5,000 and S$30,000 and/or jailed up to 12 months.
They may also be barred from employing foreign workers.
Foreigners who work without valid work passes may be fined up to S$20,000 and/or jailed 24 months.
They may also be barred from working in Singapore. — TODAY
