2 Of the 384 EP holders investigated in 2001, 292 were related to the submission of forged documents or false declaration of salaries. Another 61 EP holders were investigated for illegal employment/deployment and the remaining 31 EP holders were investigated for other EP abuses.

3 In 2001, a total of nine companies and 25 individuals were prosecuted under the Immigration Act (Cap 133) for EP abuses. Eight of these companies were charged for making false declarations of the monthly basic salary of their EP holders (please refer to example at Annex A). One company was charged for the illegal deployment of its EP holders. Of the 25 EP holders, 23 were charged for falsely declaring their educational qualifications (please refer to example at Annex A). The remaining two individuals were employers who were charged with the false declaration of the monthly basic salary of their EP holders.

4 The Ministry would like to remind prospective employers and EP holders of the serious consequences of making a false declaration to obtain or attempt to obtain an EP for himself or for any other person. The offender will be charged in Court under the Immigration Act (Cap 133) and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $4,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both. The Ministry would also take administrative action against errant employers by placing them on a permanent blacklist from the employment of foreign workers.

5 The Ministry would also like to remind employers not to employ foreign workers without a valid work pass. Employers of foreign workers should also not deploy them to work in jobs that are different from that stated in their Work Permits (WP) or EP application forms. The law requires every prospective employer of a foreigner to apply for a WP or EP and to engage a foreigner only if an appropriate work pass has been approved. Any person caught employing foreigners without a valid work pass will be charged in Court under the Employment of Foreign Workers Act (Cap 91A). The first-time offender faces a minimum fine equivalent to two years of the foreign worker levy and a maximum fine of up to four years levy for each foreign worker, or imprisonment of up to one year, or both. For the second and subsequent conviction, the penalty will be a mandatory jail sentence of one to 12 months in addition to the above fines.

Annex A

Investigations involving Allied Container (Engineers & Manufacturers) Pte Ltd located at 12 Tuas Avenue 6 S(639300) revealed that the company had falsely declared the salaries of nine of their EP holders in order to obtain EP for them. The company’s nine EP holders were paid monthly salaries of between $800 and $1501 instead of the basic monthly salary of $2,001 declared in their EP application forms. On 24 April 2002, the Court found Allied Container (Engineers & Manufacturers) Pte Ltd and three of its Directors guilty under Section 57(1)(k) of the Immigration Act (Cap 133) for falsely declaring the basic monthly salaries of the company’s Employment Pass holders. The company was fined a total of $45,000 for 15 counts. Mr Lim Quee Huat, a Director of the company, was sentenced to a total of two months imprisonment for the seven charges he was convicted of. The two other Directors of the company were also fined $4000 for one count each.

On 9 January 2002, the Chief Justice doubled the jail sentence of Abu Syeed Chowdhury, an EP holder, from two to four months for the false declaration of his educational qualifications. He was found guilty under Section 57(1)(k) of the Immigration Act (Cap 133) for falsely declaring in his EP applications that he was a university graduate. He had used a forged university degree certificate when he applied and renewed his EP on several occasions.