3 weeks' jail for jobseeker who posed as his own character referees, used fake poly diploma in applications

SINGAPORE — In a bid to avoid spending two years in school to get the proper qualifications to become a fire safety manager, Muhammad Rasul Kadir Ali submitted a forged polytechnic diploma to his prospective employers.

Rasul also posed as his own character referees over the phone, but a human resource manager grew suspicious after noticing that the various voices sounded like Rasul’s.

For his actions, the 31-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Wednesday (Oct 5).

He pleaded guilty to two counts of using a forged document as a genuine one and another offence of attempting to cheat the human resource manager by means of personation.

Another charge of using a forged document was taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that Rasul wanted to apply for a job as a fire safety manager in 2016, but did not have a diploma in security and fire safety management.

He then obtained a fake diploma and an academic transcript purportedly issued by Temasek Polytechnic from an acquaintance, only identified as “Ravi” in court documents.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) V Jesudevan told the court that Rasul was initially reluctant to do this but the notion of having to wait two years to earn the qualification led him to change his mind.

Rasul claimed that he then lost contact with Ravi.

On July 8, 2020, he submitted the forged diploma as part of his job application to SPH Retail Property Management Services.

A senior human resource manager noticed that the fonts used in the diploma were different from the ones Temasek Polytechnic typically uses.

She then contacted an administrative manager from the school to confirm that Rasul’s details were not in the polytechnic’s database of graduates.

Rasul also submitted the forged diploma to Serangoon Gardens Country Club.

In this job application, he listed two character referees and provided their contact numbers, which belonged to him.

He knew that the country club’s human resource staff members would contact these referees as part of their background checks, so he intended to impersonate them and provide good feedback about himself, DPP Jesudevan told the court.

When the human resource manager called the numbers Rasul provided, her suspicions were roused when she noticed that the voices were similar to Rasul’s.

She then contacted the polytechnic and found out that the polytechnic diploma he had submitted was not real.

For using a forged document as a genuine one, he could have been jailed up to four years or fined, or punished with both.

Anyone who cheat by personation can be jailed up to five years or fined, or both. Attempted cheating carries the same punishment.