Two women jailed for using forged university certificates in work pass applications

New Paper

5 days ago

Hoping to get employment passes so they could work in Singapore, two foreign women submitted false university certificates to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
After they secured the passes, their ruse went undetected for 15 months as they continued working for CL Enterprise, a firm which operates multiple Mr Fix retail outlets carrying items such as kitchenware and appliances.
On July 17, Torres Alyssa Riva Fernan and Conol Almira Joy Torres, both 29-year-old Filipinas, were jailed for four and six weeks respectively.
Fernan pleaded guilty to one charge under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.
Torres admitted to one similar charge, with two other charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
Asking the judge to impose a strong sentence, MOM prosecuting officer Teo Sijing said others were deprived of the jobs the two women had secured by deceiving the authorities.
Some time in September 2020, Torres contacted an unidentified Philippine agent known as "Cory" to look for a new job after her previous employment at another Singapore firm ended.
Cory informed Torres about a job as assistant sales manager with a monthly salary of $2,200. Torres was keen and went for the interview.
After the interview, CL Enterprise submitted an application for an employment pass for Torres to work as its assistant sales manager.
As part of the application process, Torres submitted a forged certificate indicating she had a bachelor's degree in science from Ateneo De Manila University, and signed a declaration form affirming it was true.
She also stated that her monthly salary would be $5,800, although she knew this was false.
She did so on Cory's instructions as she believed it was necessary for her employment pass application to succeed.
Meanwhile, Fernan heard about Cory through a relative while she was still in the Philippines looking for a job.
Cory required Fernan to pay her $4,500 before processing her job application.
Fernan took a loan to pay Cory.
Fernan then interviewed for the position of assistant operations manager at CL Enterprise and was hired.
In her employment pass application, she similarly submitted a forged bachelor's degree in science certificate from De La Salle University in Manila, and signed a declaration form affirming that she had this qualification.
Both Torres and Fernan worked at the company from November 2020 to February 2022.
Their offences were discovered when MOM conducted a random inspection of CL Enterprise.
Court documents did not give more details about the inspection.
MOM's Mr Teo said educational qualifications and salaries are important considerations when determining whether to grant an employment pass application.
Had the authorities known that the details submitted by the women were untrue, the pair would not have been granted the passes, said the prosecutor.
"The sentence sought would impose a strong deterrent message to offenders who seek to exploit the work pass system by making false statements and creating backdoors to facilitate illegal employment," said Mr Teo.