A year later, in 2006, when he renewed the cook's S-pass, Tong Suan Toon, 56, lied again about the salary, inflating it by $500.

This is because only foreign workers paid $1,800 or more are eligible for S-passes, which are issued to mid-level skilled workers.

One reason errant employers are known to apply for an S-pass even when their employee should be issued a work permit is that the employer pays a lower monthly levy - $50 - for each S-pass employee he hires.

For making false declarations and for failing to keep proper records of what he was paying his cook, Tong was fined $11,000 in a district court yesterday.

The cook, Mr Lian Tian Ping, did not know he was being underpaid for the job he was doing at Heng Ler Seafood Restaurant in Havelock Road.

The fine for Tong ends a saga that has dogged him since February, when his lies were uncovered in a MOM investigation. He was charged in a district court in June and convicted yesterday after six adjournments on his case.

A call for yet another adjournment by a MOM prosecutor on Friday was thrown out by the court following an objection by Tong's lawyer Chia Boon Teck.

Mr Chia told the court: 'I cannot have an axe hanging over my client's head indefinitely.'

The prosecution, which had initially urged the court for a jail term, made no submissions on Friday.

This month, the High Court threw out an appeal by the prosecution to impose a jail term on another restaurateur Celine Tan Bee Thin, 51, who had lied to get employment passes for five cooks.