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SINGAPORE: An employment agent cooked up a scheme with another woman to obtain domestic worker permits for foreigners who did not work as maids but found their own other jobs.<\/p>\n
The prosecution said the women essentially sold work permits to three foreigners for between S$5,000 (US$3,950) and S$11,600 each.<\/p>\n
Through the illegal scheme, the three foreign women were hired as maids on paper but instead performed part-time work as waitresses or cleaners.<\/p>\n
The employment agent, 61-year-old Singaporean Josephine Santos Ho, was sentenced to 23 weeks’ jail on Monday (Feb 23). She pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, with another eight charges considered in sentencing.<\/span><\/p>\n She was also ordered to pay a penalty of S$3,000 which amounts to her proceeds of crime.<\/p>\n The court heard that Ho was the key appointment holder at Expert Business Management & Consultancy, an employment agency.<\/p>\n In 2018, she met a woman named Jennifer Choo Joo Kheng, also a 61-year-old Singaporean.<\/p>\n Together, they devised a scheme where they would help foreigners obtain domestic worker work permits in Singapore.<\/p>\n However, these foreigners would not work for, or live with, their declared employers but find their own jobs elsewhere.<\/p>\n Ho was responsible for looking for foreigners while Choo was to find local individuals who were willing to let their names be used to employ the foreigners.<\/p>\n The foreigner would have to pay a sum of money, which would be split between Ho, Choo and the local who would be hiring the foreigner on paper.<\/p>\n In January 2021, Choo found a local man who agreed to employ a foreigner in his name in exchange for money.<\/p>\n He provided his NRIC and Singpass password to Choo for the purpose of making work permit applications.<\/p>\n Ho matched this local with a foreigner, Josill Maratas David, who wanted to obtain a work permit under the illegal scheme.<\/p>\n Ho told Josill that she would have to pay S$7,500, as well as her own monthly foreign worker levy to join the scheme.<\/p>\n Josill agreed and the paperwork was done, with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issuing her a work permit indicating that she would be employed by the local man as a domestic worker.<\/p>\n Of the S$7,500 that Josill paid to join the scheme, Ho retained S$1,000.<\/p>\n Josill managed to work in Singapore for about 11 months as a part-time waitress at various restaurants and a freelance house cleaner until her work permit was cancelled.<\/p>\n Another two foreigners joined this scheme. Divina Xeres Cabuay Onzana paid a fee of S$5,000 to Ho in 2019 and Perez Lovella Reybuenan paid S$11,600 in 2021. Choo found locals who were to pose as their employers.<\/p>\n The sum for Perez included COVID-19 quarantine fees. Both women also paid their own monthly foreign worker levies.<\/p>\n Divina worked under the permit for a year and five months until September 2020, before obtaining another permit under the illegal scheme in October 2020. This was cancelled in February 2021.<\/p>\n Perez worked for only about four months from December 2021 until her permit was cancelled.<\/p>\n In August 2022, MOM carried out investigations after receiving information about the possible contravention of laws under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.<\/p>\n As a result, Ho was arrested.<\/p>\n The prosecutor asked for 28 to 32 weeks’ jail, along with orders for Ho to pay S$3,000.<\/p>\n He said the integrity of MOM’s work pass framework was “seriously compromised” as a result of Ho’s actions, because the scheme fundamentally involved the sale of work passes to let the women live and work in Singapore.<\/p>\n Ho was one of two key individuals involved in the scheme, with a motive to make financial gain by selling work permits, said the prosecutor.<\/p>\n She had also collected significant sums of money from the women for them to purchase work permits.<\/p>\n Her actions were aggravated by the fact that she worked in an employment agency and would have known that the scheme was illegal.<\/p>\n Josill had earlier been given six weeks’ jail for her role, while Divina was given 10 weeks’ jail and Perez received three weeks’ jail.<\/p>\n Choo is set to plead guilty later this week for her part in the scheme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nTHE CASE<\/h2>\n
THE SCHEME<\/h2>\n