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http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/02/22/25-foreign-employees-jailed-for-forged-academic-certificates/ 25 foreign employees jailed for forged academic certificates February 22nd, 2014 | Author: Editorial 25 foreigners were sentenced to jail on Thursday (20 Feb) for submitting forged academic certificates to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to illegally obtain work passes to work in Singapore. All 25 foreign employees pleaded guilty. 22 of them were sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail, 2 to 12 weeks’ and 1 to 4 weeks’. 25 is the largest number of foreign employees prosecuted for the offence this year, and the penalties are the most severe the courts have ever meted out for the offence. The 25 foreigners obtained forged academic certificates in their home countries, and used them to apply for work passes between 2 November 2012 and 7 June 2013. Based on the false information submitted, 20 were issued an S-Pass and 5 an Employment Pass (EP). An S-Pass holder needs to have a minimum fixed monthly salary of $2,200 and an EP holder $3,300. The nationalities of these 25 foreigners, comprising 21 males and 4 females, are: 16 from Myanmar 7 from India 2 from the Philippines They were issued work passes to work in operations, sales, and food and beverage. Among them were a hair restoration technologist, a quality control executive and a chef. They all worked for less than a year in Singapore. MOM launched investigations between November and December 2013, and discovered that their academic certificates were forged through checks with the relevant certificate issuing institutions and respective foreign government departments. They had mislead MOM to believe that they met the required educational criteria to obtain the work passes. MOM’s investigations revealed that all the employers were unaware that the foreign employees had submitted forged academic certificates for their work pass applications. As the employers were not complicit, no action was taken against them. Last year, MOM prosecuted 78 foreigners for similar offences. Convicted foreigners are barred from working in Singapore. MOM amended the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act in November 2012, and made the offence of making a false statement or submitting any false document relating to academic qualifications a standalone offence with stiffer penalties. Offenders may be fined up to $20,000 and/or imprisoned up to 2 years. Apart from legislative measures, MOM said it is strengthening its processes and fraud detection capabilities. This includes enhancing internal database checks, verifying the certificate’s authenticity directly with the issuing educational institution, and requiring employers/employment agents to upload verification/proof of diplomas and higher qualifications for applications for EP, S-Pass and Training Employment Pass. MOM also performs retrospective audits. In addition, MOM is supplementing its checks with third-party screening agencies. Last month, MOM announced that they had hired Dataflow Services in New Delhi to conduct random checks on education certificates and employment history declared by Indian nationals working in Singapore [Link]. MOM said that it would use “independent verification channels” like Dataflow to conduct its own random audits. Dataflow says on its website that it helps clients ensure that the staff they hire are qualified and competent. “We identify fraudsters and unwanted professionals by verifying their qualifications and checking individuals against proprietary database and international watch lists.” MOM requires all foreign applicants for passes to make accurate, complete and truthful declarations to the Controller. Making a false declaration by submitting a forged academic certificate or certificates is a deliberate attempt to mislead the Controller. MOM said it will not condone such acts of deceit, and will take severe action against offenders, as well as errant employers and employment agencies if they abet foreign applicants who submit forged academic certificates. MOM is also seeking the co-operation of the public. Any member of the public who knows of foreign employees using forged certificate(s) can and should call MOM at (65) 6438 5122 or email [email protected]. All information is kept strictly confidential.