Please refer to the letter by Mr Francis Han, 'Why bosses use 'phantom workers', last Sunday.

'Phantom worker' scams are not win-win propositions.

Phantom workers do not have genuine work and do not earn an honest wage.

To condone such behaviour would also undermine the majority of law abiding employers who seek to work within the laws governing the entry of foreign workers.

Employers who have resorted to phantom workers should immediately stop doing so. They should employ genuine local workers or cancel the work permits of their existing foreign workers to ensure compliance with foreign worker quotas.

If they choose to continue with such fraudulent conduct, they will face a fine of up to $15,000, 12months' imprisonment or both on each charge.

Phantom workers who collude with an employer by providing their particulars for use in making fraudulent Central Provident Fund contributions in order to meet the requirements of work permit applications can also be charged with abetting the offence.

They will face the same penalties as the errant employer - a fine of up to $15,000, 12 months' imprisonment or both on each charge.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will not hesitate to take action against such errant employers.

Recently, we have charged a total of 15 employers in court for 581 charges of falsely declaring the number of local workers employed so as to inflate their foreign worker entitlement.

Anyone with information on employers hiring phantom workers for their businesses can contact MOM on (65) 6438-5122 or via e-mail at mom_fmmd@mom. gov.sg

Farah Abdul Rahim (Ms)
Director, Corporate Communications for Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Manpower

This article was first published in The Straits Times.