Jollibean faces charges for owing over S$199,000 in CPF contributions
If the company does not make payment by its next court date, a representative intends to plead guilty, with the prosecution seeking fines of S$2,000 to S$10,000 per charge.
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SINGAPORE: Soy milk company Jollibean Foods owes more than S$199,000 (US$155,000) in contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and faces multiple charges because of this, a court heard on Wednesday (Aug 27).
CNA broke the news in July that some Jollibean workers claimed they were owed months of salaries and CPF contributions after the closure of several Jollibean outlets in the past year.
Company representative Shahrul Nazrin attended a further mention of the case against Jollibean, brought by a CPF prosecutor, on Wednesday. He was unrepresented.
Jollibean is facing 28 charges under the CPF Act.
The company is accused of failing to pay CPF contributions to 16 employees for the months between October 2024 and February 2025.
The CPF prosecutor told the court that a final adjournment had been granted at a previous hearing for the payment of CPF arrears of S$199,301.
No payment related to this sum has been made, she added.
The judge told Mr Shahrul that he was supposed to have paid the arrears in full by Wednesday. She asked if any payment had been made on his end.
Mr Shahrul said he understood that the matter had been ongoing for a few months.
"The situation with the company is, as what I was briefed by stakeholders of the company, we are in the final lap of negotiation for a buyover for the company," he said.
"It's supposed to be concluded by the end of this month, or this mention date, however, we are already at the contractual stage."
He asked the court if it could give a final adjournment, while acknowledging that the previous one was supposed to be "final".
He said that funds would come in once the takeover was completed. He added that the company intends to settle the arrears in full once funding has been transferred to the company after the buyover is complete.
The judge asked for a timeline for when payment will be made to CPF, and Mr Shahrul said he was "very confident" that everything could be concluded in four weeks.
When asked if he could make some payment in the meantime, Mr Shahrul said the company has "no funds".
The CPF prosecutor consented to an adjournment of four weeks.
If payment is not made by then, Mr Shahrul said he would plead guilty on behalf of the company.
The CPF prosecutor then said the company was a repeat offender, so it faces a minimum fine of S$2,000 and a maximum of S$10,000 per charge.
Mr Shahrul asked when Jollibean was previously convicted, as he did not know about this, and was told that it was in 1998.
The case was adjourned to September.
Additional reporting by Koh Wan Ting.
