SINGAPORE — An Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer was charged in court with 35 counts of graft after he allegedly pocketed pay-offs in return for allowing foreign women to stay longer in Singapore.

As a Primary Screening Officer attached to the Tuas Checkpoint, Mohammed Mustaffa Mohabat Ali, 29, was responsible for assessing whether foreigners met entry requirements, inspecting travellers’ passports and granting visit passes to foreigners coming into Singapore.

Between October 2010 and June 2011, he is said to have granted stay extensions for 34 Filipino and four Vietnamese women for bribes of S$150 to S$850 each time. In all, he allegedly took S$10,250.

Mustaffa, who has been interdicted from his post — a suspension and docking of pay, among other things — is also said to have roped in three colleagues and one former ICA officer, Nor Hidayat Mohamed Hussain, for this illicit scheme, offering them between S$50 and S$100 each time to grant social visit passes to 10 foreign women.

The three colleagues — Mohamed Nazrul Noor Mohamed, Lukmanulhakim Samsun and Ezhar Kami — have been sacked.

TODAY understands that investigations against them are under way.

Separately, two other men were implicated in Mustaffa’s alleged scheme.

One of them, Philibert Tng Hai Swee, was involved in 12 of Mustaffa’s charges, according to court documents. Tng would provide transport to the foreigners, drive them through the checkpoint and refer them to Mustaffa to get their visit passes, said the Corruption Practices Investigation Bureau.

The other man is Mohammad Ghazali Hashim Abdul Rahman.

Mustaffa’s case comes after several recent high-profile corruption cases involving public servants, including ex-Singapore Civil Defence Force chief Peter Lim.

Unrepresented yesterday, he told the court he wants to hire a lawyer through the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme.

Each of the Prevention of Corruption Act charges carries jail not longer than five years and/or a fine up to $100,000.

Mustaffa’s case will be heard again on Sept 25.