SINGAPORE – A migrant worker who was sentenced to 13 weeks’ jail after he was found to have staged an accident to make a false claim for work injury compensation has failed in his appeal to the High Court.
Islam Mohammad Khabirul, a 34-year-old shipyard worker from Bangladesh, had appealed against his conviction on three charges – one for making a fraudulent claim and two for making false statements to a Manpower Ministry (MOM) investigation officer.
Khabirul’s employer and co-workers testified during his trial that he had been instructed not to go to work that day.
But he alleged that they were in cahoots to implicate him, and that his employer had masterminded the conspiracy to cover up his accident and avoid regulatory scrutiny.
This argument was rejected by High Court judge Vincent Hoong, who dismissed Khabirul’s appeal on Dec 3.
Justice Hoong said the prosecution presented sufficient evidence to prove that Khabirul was told not to go to work and that he did not attend a work briefing that day.
This supported the prosecution’s case that Khabirul was only at the workplace to stage an accident so that he could make a false claim for compensation.
The judge said Khabirul told multiple lies in his MOM statements.
For instance, he initially said that on the day in question, he reported for work at 7.30am. After he was confronted with the entry records, he said he had arrived at the shipyard at 4.43am to borrow money from his uncle who worked there.
Justice Hoong added that Khabirul’s account of the accident was “inherently improbable”.
Moreover, some of the first responders and doctors who attended to him described his behaviour as being suggestive of feigning injuries.
