Firm's director fined over role in taking $112k in kickbacks from migrant workers

Money collected from 18 workers as condition for renewing their work passes

- Samuel Devaraj

A company director has been fined after he admitted to playing a role in collecting $112,400 in kickbacks from migrant workers as a condition for renewing their work passes in December 2020.

On July 24, Loo Kim Huat was fined $90,000 and also ordered to pay a penalty of $42,000, after he pleaded guilty to six charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

Another 12 similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Loo, 68, was the director and group head of conservancy at WIS Holdings, which manages Weishen Industrial Services, a company providing estate cleaning and maintenance services for town councils.

He had conspired with four others in the collection of kickbacks from 18 employees of Weishen as a condition for renewing their work passes.

The illicit payments ranged from $900 to $7,000 for each worker.

His four co-conspirators were Lim Choong Seng, a former site manager at Weishen; conservancy workers Kabir Mohammad Humayun and Robel; and Kamaruzzaman, an employment agent based in Bangladesh.