SINGAPORE: A Singaporean was jailed for 40 months and fined S$3,000 for illegal labour importation offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA) on Tuesday (Oct 14).
Leong Kwai Tong, 54, was charged with conspiring with four other Singaporeans to set up shell companies to obtain work passes for foreign nationals seeking to legalise their stay in Singapore, in exchange for monetary payments.
He faced 66 charges and pleaded guilty to 22 of them. The remaining 44 charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a news release on Wednesday.
He was also ordered to pay S$105,000 for the proceeds of his crime, the same amount he gained from the scheme.
The four other Singaporeans involved in the scheme are Tan Tai Ji, Terence Sim Kian Boon, Roy Neo Hock Guan and Cheng Tee Howe.
Between 2019 and 2020, 12 shell companies were set up, resulting in 60 foreigners receiving work passes.
Leong managed the administrative aspects of the scheme, which included using the SingPass credentials of director-in-names to set up shell companies and submit work pass applications to MOM. The foreigners were released after they arrived in Singapore and did not work for any of the shell companies.
“To evade detection, Leong fabricated company documents and staged meetings at the shell companies’ registered addresses to create the illusion of legitimate business operations,” said MOM.
“He also assisted with collecting monthly payments of S$2,000 to S$5,000 from the foreigners to maintain their work passes while they were in Singapore,” the ministry said.
Leong sourced and hired local phantom workers to inflate the foreign manpower work pass quota for the shell companies. He paid monthly levies for the foreign workers and made monthly Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions to create the false impression that the companies were actively operating.
Neo, Sim and Cheng also allegedly received payments for being nominal directors of the shell companies.
Neo and Sim have been convicted and sentenced. Cheng’s sentencing is still pending and Tan’s case remains before the courts.
