Warriors FC charged with failing to pay S$350,000 in employees’ salaries over three months

SINGAPORE — Warriors Football Club, the most successful club in the Singapore Premier League, was charged in a district court on Thursday (Nov 7) with 107 counts of failing to pay its employees their monthly salaries on time.

Court documents showed that the embattled nine-time domestic champions allegedly did not pay more than 30 of its staff — including players and management — from August to October this year, to the tune of about S$358,000.

The individual amounts ranged between S$300 and S$10,000. The latter was for French striker Jonathan Behe, who joined the club last year.

The case will be heard in court again on Dec 5. If convicted, the club — formerly known as the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club up till 2013 — could be fined up to S$15,000 for each charge.

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) said in a statement that over the past few months, it sought to assist the club in various ways so as to minimise disruption to the players and the staff.

The Ministry of Manpower banned the club in May from signing international players for the second time in eight months, for violating the Employment Act.

In August, the FAS announced that it had directed the club to immediately remove its general manager and honorary secretary, Paul Poh, from both his appointments.

Singapore football's governing body took this action after discovering “serious and repeated lapses” that the club had failed to take steps to rectify.

An FAS spokesperson said then that the club had breached its legal obligations by failing to pay its staff and players’ monthly Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions since January.

FAS first learned of this in March and has been directly paying employees' CPF contributions since then. The association has also been paying the club’s Centre of Excellence staff’s salaries since June.

Besides that, the FAS assisted with the Warriors’ field bookings so that the club is able to focus on preparing for their games in the 2019 league and cup competitions.

The FAS spokesperson said then: “It has now come to FAS’ attention that there are serious discrepancies in the claims which had been made by (Warriors) for subsidies for fitness coaches’ salaries. This gives rise to concerns over whether claims made by Warriors can be properly verified in the first place.

“This is compounded by the fact that (Warriors) have repeatedly failed to submit its monthly management accounts to FAS. To date, (Warriors) have not submitted any monthly management accounts since April 2019. (Warriors) have also failed to submit its 2018 audited financial statements/report.”

The club finished seventh in the nine-team Singapore Premier League, which concluded in September.