Employment agency worker helped businessman hire maid as administrator, gets jail
The businessman turned to an employment agency as he was having difficulty filling administrator roles for his company with local workers.
A file photo of the State Courts building in Singapore.
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SINGAPORE: When a director found that locals were unsuitable administrators for his food company, he turned to an employment agency worker who helped him hire a maid for the job.
While designated as a foreign domestic worker in her work permit, the "maid" in reality worked as an administrative employee for the Singaporean director.
The employment agency worker, 42-year-old Filipina Villarosa Ma Lourdes Mananghaya, was sentenced to four weeks' jail and fined S$2,500 (US$1,980) on Tuesday (Feb 10).
She pleaded guilty to one charge each of making a false statement in an application for a work pass and indirectly receiving a sum from a foreign employee for her agency's services that was higher than the prescribed fee for such services under the law, with another two charges taken into consideration.
The "maid", Filipina Bariquit Christie Ann Abapo, 31, was given three weeks' jail on Thursday (Feb 12).
The court heard that Villarosa worked at Icon Employment Consultancy, described online as providing "one-stop" human resources solutions.
Her co-accused, 50-year-old Singaporean Shehzad Shamsuddin Karimi, was the director of Prince Emporium, a company dealing in the trading of goods like biscuits and spice powders.
Shehzad approached Villarosa sometime in January 2024 seeking assistance to find workers for Prince Emporium, as he was "having difficulties with local part-time administrative staff who were unsuitable for his business operations".
Villarosa tried submitting two work pass applications to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on behalf of Prince Emporium, but they were rejected.
Shehzad then discussed with Villarosa whether it was possible to apply for a foreign domestic worker to work as an administrator for Prince Emporium instead.
Villarosa introduced Bariquit to Shehzad sometime in July 2024, intending to fulfil the objective of employing a maid as an administrative employee for the company.
The trio had discussions in a chat group about the administrative work that had to be done, with Bariquit aware that she would not be working as a maid.
Villarosa then submitted an application for a domestic worker's permit for Bariquit.
Without the knowledge or authorisation of Icon Employment, Villarosa signed a declaration form on Sep 2, 2024, for the application of a domestic helper containing a statement that Shehzad would employ Bariquit as a maid at his residence.
The period of deception persisted for two-and-a-half months, from Sep 3, 2024, until Nov 12, 2024, the court heard.
From July 2024 to October 2024, Villarosa received S$3,200 from Bariquit for facilitating her work permit application and employment placement.
Bariquit's monthly declared salary in the domestic worker application was S$750. Under the Employment Agencies Rules, the maximum fee that could have been charged to Bariquit was one month's salary for each year of her work pass' validity period or employment contract period, whichever was shorter. This was subject to a maximum of two months' salary.
This meant that Villarosa's receipt of S$3,200 from Bariquit exceeded the maximum of S$1,500 based on her declared monthly salary.
Villarosa lied to an employment inspector at MOM in December 2024 that she had intended for Bariquit to work as a domestic worker. She recanted her lie when giving a further statement in February 2025.
The MOM prosecutor sought four to five weeks' jail and a fine of between S$2,500 and S$3,000 for Villarosa, saying that a work permit would not have been issued for Bariquit if it had been known that she would be working as an administrative assistant.
Not only was Villarosa one of three people in cahoots for this offence, she also profited from her service fee and engaged in deception to circumvent the work pass framework.
Villarosa's false declaration has "adversely affected the integrity of the work pass framework", and she also exploited a foreign employee by overcharging, said the prosecutor.
He added that Villarosa has not made any restitution to date.
For making a false statement in a work pass application, she could have been jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$20,000, or both.
For receiving an agency service fee above the prescribed fee under the law, she could have been fined up to S$5,000.
Shehzad's case is pending before the courts.
