Indian-origin couple in Singapore jailed for abusing maid, obstructing justice

Singapore, December 18

An Indian-origin couple was on Friday jailed by a Singapore court for repeat offences relating to the hiring of a maid despite being blacklisted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and obstructing justice, local media reported.

Syed Mohamed Peeran Syed Ameer Hamza, who circumvented the MOM blacklist by using his business associate's identity to hire an Indonesian domestic worker, was jailed 36 weeks or about eight months.

The 41-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty midway through a trial to one charge each of obstructing justice and instigating his associate to give false information to secure a work pass.

His spouse Sabah Parveen, a 37-year-old permanent resident from India, was jailed for three days after similarly pleading guilty to obstruction of justice.

The couple's Indonesian maid, Aminah, reported that she was mistreated by the couple.

Another charge of failing to pay all of Aminah's salary was taken into consideration for sentencing, according to a report by TODAY newspaper.

District Judge Jennifer Marie granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for a charge that the couple each faced, failing to ensure Aminah was given adequate rest every day.

This means that they can be prosecuted for these offences in the future, for example, if new evidence emerges.

The couple cried in the dock as their sentences were read out. Sabah began serving her sentence immediately, while Syed will do so on January 7 in order to take care of their two young children and settle some work matters, said the TODAY report.

The court heard that in 2014, Sabah was charged with three counts of voluntarily causing hurt against their domestic worker at the time.

However, the charges were compounded when she paid SGD5,000 in compensation, which included a flight ticket, to the worker then.

In May 2015, Syed learned that he and his household had been placed on a blacklist for hiring foreign domestic workers until June 30, 2019.

He then wrote to MOM in a bid to lift the ban, but this was rejected.

In early 2018, he recruited Aminah. She was in Indonesia at the time.

Then, in July that year, he circumvented the ban by persuading his associate to apply for in-principle approval for Aminah to be employed as a domestic worker in Singapore. This was the first step in the work pass application.

Syed got Suresh Murugaiyan, an Indian-origin associate in Singapore, to falsely indicate to MOM to be Aminah's employer.

MOM's Work Pass System automatically approved Suresh's application. If Syed or his household members had used the system, it would have automatically prevented their application from going through, the court heard.

Aminah arrived in Singapore on July 17, 2018, and began working for Syed and Sabah.

Shortly afterwards, Syed convinced Suresh to submit formal work permit declaration forms, which again stated that Suresh was Aminah's employer. PTI