25 foreigners jailed for submitting forged academic certificates for work passes

Twenty-five foreigners were charged on Tuesday for submitting forged academic certificates from their home countries to obtain Singapore work passes. This is the largest number brought to court this year for such forgery.

All 25 accused pleaded guilty to the charges for the false information given between May and August last year. They were arrested in May this year after the Manpower Ministry (MOM) had verified the forged papers with the institutions which supposedly issued the certificates.

Twenty of them will serve four weeks in prison while the remaining five will serve 20 days as they were unable to pay their $5,000 fine. The accused were issued with work passes to perform work in operations, sales and retail. Among them were also chefs, a hairstylist and a dance choreographer.

Last year, MOM successfully prosecuted 43 offenders for similar offences. In the first half of this year, 28 offenders were convicted. The majority of them were jailed for up to four weeks.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.