A Ministry of Manpower (MOM) senior investigation officer was jailed for eight months on Thursday for getting sexual bribes from a Chinese national. Norezwan Em, 28, admitted to three charges of corruptly getting sexual favours from a 26-year-old woman to help extend her stay in Singapore.

He was assigned a case and interviewed the woman who had lodged a complaint with MOM last October that she was not given a job here despite having paid money to an agent. He recorded a statement from her and issued her a special pass to allow her to remain in Singapore to help in investigations. The special pass was due to be renewed weekly at MOM.

After that, he contacted her via text messages and through phone calls in his personal capacity and met her on non-official occasions. Investigations showed that the woman, who was under the impression that he could could help to prolong her stay here, met him on three occasions where they had sex or she performed a sexual act on him.

On Nov 7, Norezwan told her that she could only stay in Singapore for a month. She lodged a report at the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau the next day saying Norezwan had obtained sexual favours from her in return for promising to extend her stay here. He could have been fined up to $100,000 and/or jailed for five years on each charge.