Man faces 85 charges under Employment of Foreign Manpower Act

[Kyo Kusanagi]

Man faces 85 charges under Employment of Foreign Manpower Act
Posted: 29 January 2013 1955 hrs

SINGAPORE : The owner of a construction company, F & I Engineering & Services, has been charged with 85 counts of offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA).

Umarul Farouk Mohamed Ibrahim, 29, allegedly committed the offences from 27 August 2010 to 24 August 2011.

Umarul Farouk allegedly falsely declared the number of local employees he hired to inflate his company's foreign worker entitlement.

He also allegedly falsely declared in his Work Permit applications that 46 foreign employees would be working for him as construction workers when he had no intention of employing them.

Umarul Farouk was also charged with recovering levies and receiving prohibited payments as consideration for employment from his foreign employees.

He allegedly collected monies from the 46 foreign employees he brought in between 1 November 2010 and 30 November 2011.

Each foreign employee paid monthly sums of money ranging from S$450 to S$520. From the amount collected, S$380 went towards the payment of foreign worker levies and Umarul Farouk allegedly pocketed the rest.

The penalties under the EFMA were increased in November 2012.

Under the revised EFMA, offenders who are found guilty of making false declarations to the Ministry of Manpower can be fined up to S$20,000 or jailed up to 24 months, or both.

Taking monies from foreign employees as consideration for employment is now a new standalone criminal offence.

Offenders can be fined up to S$30,000, or be jailed up to two years, or both.

The case will be heard again on February 14.

- CNA/ms

 

[Kyo Kusanagi]

S'porean faces charges for phantom worker scam, kickbacks

AsiaOne
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2013

SINGAPORE - A construction company owner was charged today with 85 counts under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA).

The charges include making false declarations in Work Permit applications, recovering levies and receiving prohibited payments as consideration for employment amounting to $250,000 from 46 foreign workers.

Between Aug 27, 2010 and Aug 24, 2011, Umarul Farouk Bin Mohamed Ibrahim, the sole proprietor of F & I Engineering & Services, allegedly falsely declared the number of local employees he employed in order to inflate the company's foreign worker entitlement.

The 29-year-old also allegedly falsely declared in his Work Permit applications that 46 foreign employees would be employed as construction workers in his company even though he had no intention of hiring them.

In addition to the charges above, Farouk was also charged for recovering levies and receiving prohibited payments as consideration for employment from these foreign employees.

Each of the 46 foreign employees was said to have paid him monthly sums of money ranging from $450 to $520 between Nov 1, 2010 to Nov 30, 2011. $380 of the amount went towards the payment foreign worker levies and the rest was allegedly pocketed by Farouk.

He will appear in court on Feb 14.