Foreign worker who acted as unlicensed employment agent fined $30,000
A 36-year-old Bangladeshi foreign worker was fined $30,000 on Tuesday (21 November) for conducting employment agency (EA) activities without a valid EA licence.
According to a news release from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Roy Tapon Kumar pleaded guilty to one charge under Section 6(2) of the Employment Agencies Act (EAA).
He also faced two other charges of instigating two foreign workers to make false statements to a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) employment inspector, by telling the workers not to reveal that he collected agency fees from them. These two charges were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
Investigations found that from October 2015 to March 2016, Roy conducted EA activities in connection with the employment of 12 foreign workers from Bangladesh. He asked the men to send him copies of their passports and biodata, which he subsequently forwarded to hiring company Bee Teck International.
Upon successful employment of these workers, Roy forwarded the relevant employment documents on behalf of the company to these workers. In addition to these services, he also arranged for a foreigner to attend a job interview with the company.
For providing these services to the foreigners, Roy collected between $1,800 and $7,300 in agency fees from each of them. In total, Roy earned $30,900 in agency fees.
From 2015 to the first half of 2017, a total of 15 persons were convicted for conducting EA activities without a valid licence. Individuals who perform EA activities without a valid EA licence can be fined up to $80,000, or imprisoned for up to two years, or to both, per charge.
More Singapore stories:
