Immigration officer charged with issuing Visit Passes for cash

SINGAPORE — An officer with the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) was charged this morning (Sept 4) with corruption for granting Visit Passes (VPs) to foreigners in exchange for money.

Mohammed Mustaffa Mohabat Ali is alleged to have facilitated the granting of VPs to assist foreigners prolong their stay in Singapore, in return for monetary gains.

Mustaffa was attached to Tuas Checkpoint as a Primary Screening Officer. His duties included the assessing of whether foreigners met entry requirements, inspecting travellers’ passports and granting VPs to visitors to enter and remain in Singapore.

The 29-year-old, who has since been interdicted, faces 35 charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The charges include 22 counts of corruptly accepting gratification, seven counts of corruptly agreeing to accept gratification, four counts of corruptly giving gratification and two counts of corruptly offering gratification.

He was unrepresented in court this morning.

Between October 2010 to June 2011, investigations revealed that Mustaffa had allegedly accepted gratifications in return for granting VP to Filipino and Vietnamese women for their stay in Singapore.

According to court documents, Mustaffa worked mainly with Philibert Tng Hai Swee, who would refer the foreigners to him. Tng would provide transportation to the foreigners, drive them through the checkpoint and seek out Mustaffa for Visitor Passes when he is on duty at the checkpoint. For each occasion, the foreigners would be charged between S$250 and S$550.

Mustaffa also recruited three other ICA officers, who are no longer in service with the ICA, in his illicit scheme.

His case will be mentioned again on Sept 25.

Under the Prevention of Corruption Act, he could be jailed up to five years and/or fined S$100,000.