Singapore—The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) announced on Tuesday (Mar 23) that two foreign employees have been jailed for fraudulent work injury compensation claims.
Singh Arshdeep, an Indian national, and Rohoman Md Shimul a Bangladeshi national, were convicted earlier this month of making false claims under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), said MOM.
Singh was given four weeks’ jail under WICA plus another three weeks’ jail for furnishing false information to an investigation officer from MOM, while Rohoman received a four-week sentence.
Singh, who works at Enlighten Furniture Pte Ltd, filed a Work Injury Compensation (WIC) claim against his employer on Aug 5, 2019.
He claimed he had suffered injuries to his left middle finger, left index finger, left shoulder, back, and left knee when he fell backwards down the stairs while carrying a wooden box he needed for work on Mar 5 that year.
MOM investigated and found that he had staged that fall from the stairs.
Video clips submitted by Enlighten Furniture showed Singh initially seemed to practise the “accident”.
Then “he picked up the wooden box and slowly went up the staircase. When other workers appeared in the vicinity, he slowly leaned backwards, threw the wooden box behind him and fell down the staircase.”
MOM added that Singh had not been tasked to carry the wooden box he said he needed for work, according to investigations.
As for Rohoman, an incident report was submitted on his behalf by his employer, Kim Bock Contractor Pte Ltd, on Aug 16, 2019.
The report said Rohoman had injured his right hand when meeting a friend outside his worksite on July 18 that year.
MOM then told the worker that the incident did not fall under WICA since it was not related to his work, nor did it occur at the place of work.
After this, the Bangladeshi national filed another claim that said his injury had occurred at work.
When MOM investigated his case, it determined that the worker’s version of his injury was different from that of two of his supervisors, whom he had separately told on July 18, 2019, that he suffered a fall and hurt himself when he went out to meet a friend.
Aside from the charge of making a fraudulent claim under WICA, another charge of making a false statement to an investigation officer from MOM was also taken into consideration for his sentencing.
MOM noted in its press release that it “takes all claims seriously. Making a fraudulent WICA claim is not only an abuse of investigative resources, but also an objectionable act of deceit. As such, all errant claimants will be taken to task”.
It added: “Under WICA, those convicted of making fraudulent claims for compensation may be fined up to $15,000 and/or jailed up to 12 months, while those convicted of furnishing false information to the Commissioner or an investigation officer may be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed up to six months.”
/TISG
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