Updated: 02/27/2014 17:52 | By Channel NewsAsia
Businessman jailed for illegal employment of foreigners
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SINGAPORE: A 39-year-old businessman was on Thursday sentenced to three months' imprisonment and fined $90,000 for hiring foreign employees without valid work passes.
Neo Wee Seng, the director of Rajdhani Restaurant & Catering Pte Ltd, was previously convicted of five counts of illegal employment on 12 October 2010.
He pleaded guilty to four charges of hiring four foreigners without valid work passes as food packers at his restaurant, and two charges of illegally employing two foreigners as stall assistants at Shamima Enterprise, another firm he ran.
Ten other charges of illegally employing foreigners were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
The Ministry of Manpower said it had issued a stern warning to the 16 foreigners. They will be sent home and banned from returning to Singapore to work.
Under the law, employers are not allowed to hire any foreigner without first obtaining a valid work pass from the Manpower Ministry.
Employers who break the law can be prosecuted, and will be subjected upon conviction to a fine of between $5,000 and $30,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 12 months for first-time offenders.
They may also be barred from employing foreigners in future.
Last year, 98 employers were convicted of illegal employment, up from 74 in 2012. - CNA/de
