Two British consultants working in Singapore on social visit passes were deported last month and barred from returning here.
They were employed at financial services company Asia Capital Reinsurance Group (ACR) between February and April last year.
Documents seen by The Straits Times show that ACR was billed £2,500 (S$4,200) a day for each of the consultants in February and March last year.
A Manpower Ministry (MOM) spokesman said the consultants were paid by British-based Wizard Information Technology, which had a contract with insurance and reinsurance consultancy Cranmore Asia. ACR, in turn, contracted with Cranmore Asia for information technology services.
MOM was alerted to the case in January and found that Cranmore Asia and the two British consultants had breached the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.
Cranmore Asia was fined $8,000 and barred from hiring new work pass holders for two years.
The ministry is also revoking the employment pass of the firm's corporate officer as he was responsible for the illegal employment. He will no longer be allowed to enter or work in Singapore.
More than 550 employers were punished for illegally hiring social visit pass holders from 2016 to last year, said the MOM spokesman.
About 900 social visit pass holders of various pay levels and nationalities were punished for working illegally over the same period.
As of June, there were 1,143,800 foreigners working here, excluding maids.
The MOM spokesman said: "Companies must exercise due diligence by checking that any foreign manpower supplied by third parties to work for them possesses valid work passes.
"If a foreigner supplied by a third party is found to be working for a company without a valid pass, that company will be considered to have employed that foreigner without a valid work pass."
Employing a foreigner without a valid work pass can lead to a fine of between $5,000 and $30,000, and/or a jail term of up to 12 months.
Cranmore Asia said it is unable to comment as an appeal process is under way. The Straits Times understands that it is appealing against the loss of its work pass privileges and the revocation of the employment pass of its corporate officer. ACR was found to have not committed any offences and was issued an advisory for its involvement.
A source involved in project meetings and discussions at ACR who asked not to be named, said there had been discussions in the past on how the consultants could continue to enter Singapore on tourist passes, adding that "this created a very stressful environment to work in".
ACR declined to comment.
Editorial note: This article has been edited for clarity.
