TWO employment agencies that allegedly processed the employment of two maids without proper authorisation are now under investigation by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

An MOM spokesman said maid agencies cannot perform work pass transactions without written authorisation from employers as this would breach the Employment Agency Licensing Conditions.

'If found guilty, the two employment agencies may have their licences revoked by MOM, and the licensees debarred from applying for such licences,' said the spokesman.

She said the foreign domestic worker approached by Mr Sanmuga Many Sanmugam is assisting MOM with its investigations.

The two maids employed under his name had their work permit applications processed by two different agencies.

True Way Employment Services had processed the application of the maid whom Mr Sanmuga managed to contact.

The agency owner, who wanted to be known only as Ms Rosna, said an Indian couple had gone to her agency and handed her photocopies of MrSanmuga's personal documents, together with the maid's information.

They asked her to process the application for the direct-hire maid.

Such a maid is hired directly by the employer and not through a maid agency. But a maid agency usually helps to process the work permit application.

Ms Rosna said the couple did not provide any letter of authorisation from the employer to hire a maid on his behalf.

But she had trusted the couple 'because if they were not friends of the employer, how could they have photocopies of his personal documents?'

But she claimed she spoke to the employer over the phone to make background checks.

'I don't usually require the employers to show me the original documents unless they come personally to my office,' she said.

'Most employers choose to fax copies of their documents to me as they were too busy to meet me.'

She said she handled the application herself.

Ms Rosna said she was not aware something was wrong until 16 Apr when she received a call saying the maid was at the police station.

Best Home Employment Agency, which is accredited by the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), handled the second maid's work permit application.

When approached, the owner, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tay, said his staff had accepted photocopies of the employer's identity card and income assessment form without seeing the original documents or meeting the employer.

A MISTAKE

Mr Tay said a Filipina who called herself Geena had approached his agency to process the application on behalf of the maid and employer.

'This was a direct-hire case, in which the maid who had worked here previously had returned to the Philippines and found a new employer here,' he said.

Mr Tay said his staff had checked the employer's information and saw he had employed a maid two months earlier and this was an additional maid.

He found out there had been a mistake only when Mr Sanmuga called his agency and clarified that the application had been made without his knowledge.

Mr Tay said he had informed the MOM and had given relevant information to the police.

'I have told my staff that we will no longer accept applications for employers who want to hire maids directly,' he said.

Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said employment agencies must exercise due diligence when processing applications.

He said: 'In this case, the agency should have seen the original documents before accepting the photocopies. This is important to prevent any fraudulent use of documents that are photocopied.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 11, 2008.