Jail for man who harboured two overstayers engaged in vice activities

A Singaporean man who rented a housing unit and then sublet it to two Chinese nationals who engaged in vice activities there has been sentenced to seven months' jail over an immigration offence.

Xu Yixuan, 26, was given the sentence for harbouring one of the women, with the second charge of harbouring the other woman taken into consideration during sentencing.

Both women were overstayers.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a statement yesterday that in a joint operation with the police on Nov 4, 2019, it checked the Tampines residential unit and found that both the Chinese nationals had overstayed in Singapore.

Investigations showed that Xu had signed the tenancy agreement for the unit in October 2019. He then sublet the unit to the two Chinese nationals - Huang Huoying and He Lei - on Oct 27 that year, charging Huang $110 and He $120 a day in rent.

He continued to live at his own residence in Woodlands.

The ICA said: "As Xu did not exercise due diligence in ascertaining that the (Chinese) nationals' immigration passes were valid at the point when he sublet the unit to them, he had committed an offence of harbouring immigration offenders under the Immigration Act."

The authority added that Huang and He were issued warnings for overstaying.

In its statement, the ICA said that landlords must conduct three mandatory checks when renting their properties:

• Check the tenant's original immigration/work pass.

• Cross-check the particulars on his/her pass against the particulars on his/her original passport.

• Verify the validity of his/her pass by checking with the issuing authority (that is, the Ministry of Manpower for work passes and the ICA for other immigration passes such as student's pass and long-term visit pass).

Those guilty of recklessly (carrying out only one of the three due diligence checks) or knowingly harbouring overstayers and/or illegal immigrants may be jailed for at least six months and up to two years, and fined up to $6,000.

If found guilty of negligently (carrying out only two of the three due diligence checks) harbouring overstayers and/or illegal immigrants, a person may be fined up to $6,000, jailed for up to 12 months, or both.