Unlicensed employment agent jailed 25 weeks

SINGAPORE: An unlicensed employment agent has been sentenced to 25 weeks of jail for operating an unlicensed agency.

Chua Mei Chern, 39, is the first person to receive a custodial sentence since the Employment Agencies Act was amended in 2011.

She had pleaded guilty to four charges —— operating an unlicensed employment agency, declaring false information in a work permit application, illegal employment and abetting in a conspiracy to make a false statement —— on May 4.

One other charge was taken into consideration.

In passing judgement on Tuesday, District Judge Liew Thiam Leng considered the prosecution’s submissions that she was the mastermind of an illegal operation.

Chua also faced charges related to illegal employment and false declaration.

On top of these, she faced 17 other charges for cheating. For the cheating charges, she was sentenced to a total of seven years in jail.

They will run concurrently with the offences related to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

She will serve a total of seven years’ jail, including the 25—week sentence for the MOM—related charges.

The court heard that Chua operated an unlicensed employment agency, called "SSS Employment Services", between April and November 2011.

She employed a Filipino assistant, Jeraldine Pagulayan Tuliao, to run the business.

Chua made a false declaration in Jeraldine’s work permit application, stating that she was to be a foreign domestic worker (FDW) under another employer.

She asked Jeraldine to help source for Filipino workers, as well as arrange interviews and apply jobs for the workers.

Jeraldine also collected agency fees ranging from S$2,800 to S$4,000 on behalf of Chua.

Chua promised her a commission of between S$300 and S$500 for every successful placement of the workers.

In October 2011, three Filipino FDWs filed a police report against "SSS Employment Services" and Jeraldine for acting as an unlicensed employment agent.

MOM officers lured Jeraldine out and arrested her.

Jeraldine then provided leads which led to the arrest of Chua on November 4 last year.

On November 10, Jeraldine was fined S$20,000 for abetting Chua. She was also fined S$5,000 for making a false declaration in her own work permit application to be a FDW.

Jeraldine was the first person to be convicted under the revised Employment Agencies Act.

— CNA/wm