Jail for ex-Crystal Jade HR executive who 'panicked' and forged paperwork after failing to renew colleague's employment pass

SINGAPORE — Despite realising that she had failed to successfully submit a renewal application for a Crystal Jade manager’s employment pass, a human resource (HR) executive working for the restaurant chain repeatedly lied to him that the application was successful.

Tay Yee Nah even went so far as to illegally alter a document from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to deceive the man’s landlord into thinking that her tenant’s stay in Singapore was lawful.

On Monday (March 20), the 28-year-old pleaded guilty to a single charge of committing forgery, and was sentenced to three weeks’ jail.

Another charge of abetting the manager, Capuno Joel Atienza, for him to remain unlawfully in Singapore was taken into consideration for Tay’s sentencing.

The court was told that Tay was under personal and professional pressure at the time and committed the offences in a moment of folly when she "panicked" after realising that she had failed to obtain the employment pass renewal.

Mr Capuno was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully remaining in Singapore, held in custody for a couple of days and was unable to return to the Philippines to visit his mother-in-law, who was ill at the time and later died.

THE CASE

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Benjamin Low told the court that Tay’s offences took place in the second half of 2020 when Mr Capuno was aged 35 and had been working with Crystal Jade since November 2012.

Tay had been working with the restaurant chain as a human resource executive since 2019, and her job scope included handling the MOM employment pass renewal applications for foreign employees of the restaurant chain, he added.

Crystal Jade told TODAY on Monday that Tay resigned from the company on Aug 25, 2021 without informing the company that she was under investigation by the authorities.

DPP Low said that Tay was tasked In July 2020 with handling the renewal of Mr Capuno’s employment pass, which was due to expire on Aug 29 that year.

Tay did not realise until Aug 29, the day the pass expired, that she had failed to submit a successful renewal application for him.

Rather than contacting MOM for assistance, she told Mr Capuno repeatedly throughout August that the application was successful.

Based on this assurance, Mr Capuno continued to remain unlawfully in Singapore from Aug 30 that year and continued to work for Crystal Jade, DPP Low added.

Sometime in September, Mr Capuno realised that he had yet to receive his new employment pass card. He was also approached by his landlord around that time for documentation to prove that his pass had indeed been renewed.

DPP Low said that on the various occasions when Mr Capuno approached Tay about the pass renewal, she would assure him that it had been done.

She even gave him a letter with the Crystal Jade letterhead to state that he was still employed by the restaurant.

CAPUNO’S ARREST

About a year went by but Tay realised that Mr Capuno was still anxious about the renewal of his pass and she became worried that he would learn about her failure to renew it.

In order to reassure him, and in a bid to prevent detection of her failure, she decided to make a false electronic record around Aug 30, 2021 to show that she had not only submitted a renewal application for the pass, but that the application had been successful.

To do so, she downloaded an old employment record relating to Mr Capuno from an MOM online site and made the necessary changes using Microsoft Paint software.

She then sent this altered document to both Mr Capuno and his landlord.

DPP Low said that Mr Capuno was arrested by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Aug 30, 2021 “for a suspected offence of unlawfully remaining in Singapore”.

It was not stated how Mr Capuno came under ICA’s radar, but he remained in the authority’s custody until Sept 1 that year.

After that, ICA issued a special pass to him for a period of about three months until the completion of its investigations, which revealed Tay’s offences.

Due to the terms of the special pass, Mr Capuno was unable to remain employed by Crystal Jade between Sept 1 and Nov 30 in 2021.

Aside from Mr Capuno, various other people were subject to investigations by the authorities, DPP Low said while seeking a jail term of between three and five weeks.

These other people included Mr Capuno’s landlord, who was investigated for a suspected offence of harbouring an individual who remained in Singapore unlawfully, as well as employees of Crystal Jade who were being investigated for a suspected offence of employing an individual who remained here unlawfully.

‘FEAR OF FAILURE’

In seeking a lighter sentence for her client, defence lawyer Tanaya Kinjavdekar of Trident Law Corporation said that Tay was “merely trying to do her job in ensuring that the staff under her care had valid working visas”.

The lawyer acknowledged that there was an error on Tay’s part, but said that it took place at a time when Tay was “under significant pressure, juggling several work and personal commitments”, which included pursuing a higher education qualification and looking after her ailing father.

Ms Kinjavdekar added that Tay also had 300 staff members under her watch at the time of the offence, which meant that she was busy at work and often had to “multi-task and liaise with several parties” at one time.

To the lawyer's point about the stress Tay faced, DPP Low said that it is "part and parcel" of a working person's life, and the pressure Tay faced was nothing exceptional and did not justify her behaviour.

Ms Kinjavdekar said that Tay bore “no malice” towards Mr Capuno, but valued him as a “competent employee” who was supportive at work at a time that Crystal Jade was facing manpower shortages.

To rectify her failure to renew Mr Capuno’s employment pass, Ms Kinjavdekar said that Tay was in the process of making a fresh S Pass application for the man, but she panicked when he began questioning her about the status of his employment pass.

"She did not wish for her error to cause trouble to (Mr Capuno) and was overwhelmed by her fear of failure."

In a moment of folly, she impulsively carried out the act, to assure him and his landlord that he could continue staying in Singapore, Ms Kinjavdekar added.

The lawyer, who sought a jail term of between one and two weeks for Tay, added that her client has since voluntarily made restitution in the sum of S$10,000 for his loss in earnings during the period that he was investigated.

Tay has taken time off work to focus on her studies and her family, the lawyer added.

As for Mr Capuno, Crystal Jade said that he continues to be employed by the company.

“When we realised the issue with his work permit, we immediately followed up and renewed his work permit and contract,” it said, adding that it also covered his meals and housing allowance during the period that he was being investigated.

Court papers did not indicate if any action was taken by the authorities against Mr Capuno.

Since the incident, Crystal Jade said that it has reviewed its standard operating procedures and “put in place an additional line of checks and verification” for all work permit renewals and applications, to ensure this process does not fall on only select members of the human resource team.

Anyone found guilty of committing forgery can be punished with up to four years' jail or a fine, or both.