Man jailed for helping others to get visit passes for their "wives''

A man was jailed for six months on Tuesday for abetting Singapore citizens to obtain visit passes for foreign nationals by lying in the application forms for a visit pass. Boon Fuxin, 30, who pleaded guilty to six charges, approached four Singaporeans and asked if they were interested in entering into marriages with Chinese nationals.

The four were: Ng Thian Seng, 24, Woo Hin Loong, 36, Chia Choon Seng, 31, and Kently Chow Tai Foo, 31, who agreed to the proposal and married Zhou Xiaoli, 31, Wang Singmei, 39, Wang Junping, 30, and Yuan Yuan, 36, respectively.

After their respective marriages last year, all the Chinese nationals did not live with their Singaporean husbands. Boon accompanied the four couples to the visitor services centre of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to apply for an extension of the women's visit passes.

He instructed the men to indicate their home addresses as the women's in the application for a visit pass form, information which he knew to be false. The Chinese nationals were all granted visit passes.

All the co-accused have been dealt with for making false statements in the visit pass application forms. Their sentences ranged from two weeks to two months' jail each.

Fifteen other charges including four under the Moneylenders Act were considered during Boon's sentencing.

The maximum penalty for each charge is a $4,000 fine and a year's jail.

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