25 foreigners charged for using forged academic certs

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said today (July 17) that it has charged 25 foreigners for submitting forged academic certificates to obtain work passes.

The 25 were charged yesterday in the largest number of individuals brought to court so far this year for this offence.

The offenders had furnished false information to the Controller of Work Passes between May and August last year in submitting fake university degree certificates in their applications for work passes.

Of the accused, 24 obtained forged academic certificates from their home countries and used them to apply for work passes, and one intentionally failed to notify the MOM that a forged academic certificate had been submitted on her behalf by an employment agent.

The 25 accused were issued with work passes to perform work in operations, sales and retail. Among them were also chefs, a hairstylist and a dance choreographer.

None possessed university degree qualifications and all were arrested in May, within a year of their employment here.

At the conclusion of the investigations, MOM brought the 25 foreign nationals to court and charged them under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act for furnishing false information and for intentionally omitting to furnish information to the Controller of Work Passes.

All 25 accused pleaded guilty to the charges yesterday, with 20 were sentenced to four weeks’ imprisonment and the remaining five fined S$5,000 or in default to 20 days’ imprisonment.

As these five accused were unable to pay up their fines, they would be serving the default sentence.

Twenty-one of the accused are from Myanmar, three from India and one from the Philippines, comprising 20 males and five females aged between 19 and 48 years of age.

Last year, the MOM successfully prosecuted 43 offenders for similar offences. In the first half of 2013, a total of 28 offenders were convicted. The majority of these offenders were jailed for up to four weeks by the Court.