Woman allegedly linked to false salary declarations to MOM given discharge amounting to acquittal

SINGAPORE – A director allegedly linked to the largest and most extensive case involving false declarations investigated by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to date has had all 49 of her charges compounded for $147,000.

Fathimunnisa Mohamed Abdul Jaleel, 39, a director at firms including MES Group Holdings and Mini Environment Service, was then given a discharge amounting to an acquittal on Sept 28.

This means the Singaporean, who had been accused of multiple offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, cannot be charged again with them.

Under the law, only certain offences can be compounded. Compounding an offence requires an agreement to have the matter compensated, usually with a payment or an apology.

In a statement to The Straits Times last Friday, the Attorney-General’s Chambers said: “Pursuant to representations from counsel, which highlighted... the accused’s low culpability in comparison to the other accused persons, the Ministry of Manpower and the prosecution agreed to compound the matter at a sum of $147,000.”

In August, three firms including Mini Environment Service were fined and four of their former directors were jailed over a ruse that ran from 2009 to 2019.

These eight parties faced 553 charges in total for offences including false declaration of employment, false declaration of salaries, illegally employing foreigners without valid work passes and excessive overtime hours.

The three firms and four Singaporean men were convicted in August over multiple offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act and the Employment Act.

Under the ruse, the three companies under property and logistics solutions company MES Group – Mini Environment Service, Labourtel Management Corporation and MES Logistics – could hire more foreign employees than they would otherwise have qualified for, said MOM in an earlier statement.

As a result, the companies made significant profits over the years.

For instance, Labourtel, the operator of four foreign worker dormitories, made more than $6 million while MES Logistics, which provided transport services for materials and workers, made over $4 million.

The ruse involved the submission of 111 false salary declarations linked to work permit and S Pass applications or renewals to MOM.

The affected workers then had to return the difference between their inflated declared monthly salaries and their actual earnings in cash.

The prosecution said the returned monies amounted to approximately more than $1 million for Mini Environment Service, $508,200 for Labourtel and $78,000 for MES Logistics.

Mini Environment Service, which was in the business of providing drainage construction and cleaning services, was fined $396,500.

Labourtel was fined $120,000 while MES Logistics was ordered to pay a fine of $59,000.

Mohamed Jinna Mohamed Abdul Jaleel, 40, and Parvis Ahamed Mohamed Ghouse, 46, were directors at all three companies at the time of the offences.

Jinna was sentenced to 42 weeks’ jail and ordered to pay a fine of $48,000, while Parvis was ordered to spend 35 weeks behind bars and pay a fine of $42,500.

Haja Nawaz, 54, who was a director at Labourtel, was given four months and two weeks’ jail.

The fourth offender, Chew Chain Loon, 59, used to be a director at MES Logistics and Mini Environment Service. He was sentenced to four months’ jail. As part of the ruse, Haja and Chew submitted work pass applications and renewals for the three companies.

Under Parvis and Jinna’s directions, Haja and Chew inflated the monthly salaries of foreign employees. The declared salaries were credited to the workers’ bank accounts. After that, the employees were told to return the difference between their declared monthly salaries and their actual salaries in cash to Haja or Chew.

On occasion, the monies would be distributed randomly to workers returning home.

In August, the prosecution said: “While some of the accused persons had tried to claim during investigations that the returned monies were a ‘savings plan’ for the workers... workers... have stated that there was no such (plan).”

The offences came to light when the authorities conducted an investigation into the companies.

MOM had spent more than 3,000 hours investigating the case.