A 42-year old Vietnamese woman and a 66-year old Singaporean man were jailed yesterday after being caught for their marriage of convenience.
According to a Chinese media website, the 42-year old woman, Ho Thi Lan, was in need of financial aid. It reported that because of her financial difficulties, she was interested in obtaining citizenship in Singapore.
After their marriage, Ho lived in various places and did not want any money from the 66-year old man, Hu Lan.
It was only after two and a half years of marriage the two were caught and arrested at Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA), when they went there to handle some formalities.
Reportedly, the man’s family was completely unaware of the marriage until it was too late. It was also alleged that Hu promised to marry Ho and live separately just as long as she had sex with him two or three times a month.
Hu supposedly met Ho Thi Lan at a pub in Geylang in 2008.
When ‘the couple’ were chaged in court, it was reported that they did not plead guilty and were convicted after nine days of interrogation.
When a reported visited Hu Lan’s home, his younger brother, only known as Mr Ho, said that Hu had gotten married, leaving his mother behind.
He said,“My brother will visit his mother about two or three days a week. It was only in the last week that he suddenly lost contact and did not come to visit. The mother was very worried and she could not sleep at night.”
He also added that, “One day he suddenly said he was married. We were really scared and asked him to show us his marriage certificate.”
Mr. Ho said that his brother and his wife had a simple marriage ceremony and dinner at home. They even had a traditional tea ceremony. He also said, “Every year during the Chinese New Year, or on occasions such as New Year’s Eve or Mother’s Day, both of them will come to visit their mother together, but they really don’t see any clues” that they were married.
Hu Lan was sentenced to jail for eight months due to a false marriage. In addition, he was sentenced to four weeks in jail for a false confession when applying for a long-term residence permit. The penalty was enforced simultaneously.
Hu Lan also also entered Singapore on November 28, 2013 to get married and Hong Kong on March 2, 2014, as stated on his entry form. He was falsely reported to be living in. As such, he faced a total of 8 months and 4 weeks of imprisonment.
obbana@theindependent.sg