A 33-year old company director of Jasper Contractors in Singapore became the first person to get caned for illegally acquiring work passes for 30 foreign workers.
Goh Eng Kiat, has been found guilty under the Employment of Foreign Manpower (EFMA) offences. As per reports, Goh gave false information to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), stating that these workers were appointed keeping in mind that they would join his company as construction workers, however, they were released by the company and had to seek their own employment. Under the EFMA regulations it is considered an offence to acquire work passes for foreign employees to work under companies whose existence might be doubtful or if the concerned company fails to provide them with work.
Goh has been charged with 117 counts for having obtained work passes for 117 foreign workers between November 2013 and March 2014. Out of all the charges, 30 charges went against him and the remaining charges were taken into consideration during sentencing him. He has been charged with five strokes of cane everyday with an imprisonment of 45 months. As Goh was unable to pay $75,000 as penalty, he will have to serve five more months of imprisonment. Moreover, he has been banned from employing foreign workers.
Kandhavel Periyasamy, Director of Employment Inspectorate at MOM's Foreign Manpower Management Division, stated that this is the first labour importation case where a caning sentence has been imposed.
Goh apparently had received $292,500 from the foreign workers he imported illegally. This amount happens to be the largest amount received by someone accused of illegal labour importation, reports MOM.
