Troubled professional football club Warriors FC were yesterday charged with 107 counts of not paying their employees their salaries.
According to charge sheets, the Singapore Premier League side failed to make payments amounting to over $350,000 on July 8, Aug 8, Sept 8 and Oct 8 this year. The affected parties include their players, coaches and administrative staff.
A Warriors representative will have to return to court on Dec 5 for a further mention of the case.
The Straits Times reported in October last year that Warriors, nine-time league champions and Singapore's most successful club, had problems paying staff on time. As a result, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) suspended their work pass privileges, barring the club from foreign hires.
While this was lifted after the club made rectifications on the payments owed, late salary payouts continued into this year, leading MOM to reimpose the suspension in May.
Two months later, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) said it was "gravely concerned" with how financial subsidies provided to the club had been administered and added it had been making payments of the club employees' monthly Central Provident Fund contributions directly to the CPF Board since March.
In response to queries, an MOM spokesman said the ministry had suspended the club's work pass privileges since May "when we first started investigation into possible breaches of the Employment Act" and their investigations have established the club "failed to comply with the Employment Act and we are proceeding to charge the club".
Under the Employment Act, employers who fail to pay salaries to their employees can be fined up to $15,000 and/or imprisoned for up to six months. The penalty may be doubled for repeat offenders.
Despite not being paid for several months, Warriors' players surpassed expectations and reached the Singapore Cup final on Nov 2. They lost 4-3 to Tampines Rovers.
It is understood the $45,000 prize money was disbursed to the club only on the condition it is used to rectify some of the salary arrears.
An employee told ST on condition of anonymity: "To go three or four months without salary is tough, and some of the staff have families to feed. The players played so hard during the Singapore Cup, because they were also fighting for their futures, in the hope they impress other clubs enough to sign them for next year."
The FAS said: "It is regrettable Warriors was unable to resolve its financial and administration issues which has now resulted with the club facing court charges.
"In the past months, the FAS has sought to assist the club in various ways so as to minimise disruption to the players as well as the staff."
In August, FAS issued a directive to Warriors to remove their general manager and honorary secretary Paul Poh from the positions with immediate effect. It is understood he has remained in both capacities.
