The director of a Singapore fashion house has been fined SG$72,000 by the Ministry of Manpower after pleading guilty to nine charges of making false declarations relating to foreign employees’ salaries.
Yen Ser Ming, executive director of Yen’s Studio Pte Ltd, was convicted on 14 July, after the 61-year-old admitted making the false declarations in work pass applications submitted to the MOM, as well as abetting false declarations in a number of renewal applications.
Ming was given the fine in default of 18 months’ imprisonment, and was also barred from hiring foreign employees, a statement from the MOM said.
MOM investigations revealed that Ming had falsely declared the salaries of nine foreign employees between 2010 and 2013 to meet the minimum salary requirement for an S-Pass.
She had also encouraged the company’s operations manager to falsely declare the salaries in renewal applications for the same nine employees between 2013 and 2015, according to a statement on the MOM’s website.
The foreign employees were paid the declared amounts in their salaries, but had to return part of the money to the company in monthly cash payments.
“Falsifying salary information to mislead the Ministry to grant S Passes and Employment Passes is a serious offence. We will take stern action against persons or companies, including barring them from applying for new work passes and renewing their existing work passes,”
Kandhavel Periyasamy, director of employment inspectorate of MOM’s Foreign Manpower Management Division, said of the case.
A total of 58 employers have been convicted for false declaration of salary offences since 2014.
Making false declarations to the MOM is a serious offence, and employers can be fined up to $20,000 per charge and/or jailed for up to two years under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA).
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