A woman was jailed for four weeks for bribing an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) customer service officer with $1,500 to expedite her application for Singapore permanent resident (PR) status.

Fenny Tey Hui Nee, who is Malaysian, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of corruptly giving a bribe to the then ICA officer in 2017. Court documents state that Tey, 25, is currently a PR.

A similar charge was taken into consideration by District Judge Marvin Bay during sentencing.

According to court documents, Tey was in a hurry to obtain permanent residency after she found out she was pregnant. She had intended to stop working for a year after her child was born, but knew she would be unable to apply for PR status if she was unemployed.

In July 2017, Tey inquired about the immigration consultancy services offered by a company, Immigration Solutions (Singapore).

Sharon Loo Wai Woon, one of the company's sales consultants, replied that the company would be able to apply for PR status on Tey's behalf, for a fee of $5,000.

Tey did not engage the company's services but later asked Loo to help her with her PR application in a personal capacity. She was hoping to pay Loo less than what Loo's firm had wanted to charge her.

Loo said she had a cousin working in the ICA, who could help expedite Tey's application for a fee of $1,500. She then passed Tey the contact details of her mother, Lucy Teo, who was working as a customer service officer in the ICA at the time.

Tey and Teo met twice in September 2017, during which Teo said she would be able to expedite Tey's application as she was familiar with the documents required.

She also said she had helped many foreigners apply for PR status successfully and Tey's application would have a higher chance of success if her services were engaged.

After Tey agreed to use Teo's services, both women met again that year on Sept 28 and Oct 10.

Each time, Tey gave $750 in cash to Teo, the court heard.

Teo later assisted Tey with her application, including handing her a file containing all the documents required to be submitted .

Tey was eventually granted PR status on Nov 9, 2018.

For her offence, Tey could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000.

The ICA said in an earlier statement that Teo's responsibility as a customer service officer did not involve the processing of PR applications, and she has been interdicted from service since Dec 19, 2018.

Teo and her daughter, Loo, have been charged with conspiring with each other to receive the bribe from Tey. The cases against both women are still pending.