C
Cao Pi
Guest
Aug 11, 2010
Overstayer nabbed at casino
<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --> <!-- story content : start --> HIS work permit was cancelled on Jan 31, 2007 but Liu Xian Hua went on to stay here illegally for more than three years. But the 33-year-old Chinese national pushed his luck by trying to enter the Marina Bay Sands casino on Saturday with someone else's work permit. He was found out and sentenced on Tuesday to five months in jail and four strokes of the cane.
A district court heard that the former construction worker showed a work permit belonging to Mr Liu Changyong to security officer Saminathan Thangavalu as he was about to enter the casino at about 11am. The sharp-eyed officer noticed that Liu did not look like the man featured in the photograph on the work permit.
When questioned, Liu admitted that the work permit was not his. The court was not told how it ended up in his possession. Investigations then revealed that Liu had overstayed here since January 2007. He had arrived to work here in 2005 and had been issued a work permit on Oct 6 on that year. However, when the permit was cancelled two years later, Liu went into hiding.
[email protected]
