Jail for man who demanded nearly $400k from workers to renew passes

A man has been jailed for 24 weeks after demanding close to $400,000 from foreign workers for the renewal of their work permits.

- Nadine Chua

Derrick Ho Chiak Hock, 55, was sentenced on Nov 14 for his offences, in one of the largest cases of kickbacks investigated by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to date.

He pleaded guilty to 20 of the 61 charges he faced under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act for collecting kickbacks from 57 migrant workers on numerous occasions from 2014 to 2020. The other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

He had demanded renewal fees of $1,500 to $3,000 each from foreign workers whose monthly salaries averaged between $350 and $500.

As a result of his scheme, these workers were left in crippling debt – they had no choice but to pay the fees out of fear that their work permits would not be approved, said MOM prosecutor Mohd Fadhli.

Ho, a former operations manager of a conservancy firm, collected $396,440 from these workers so their continued employment would be considered.

On one occasion, he collected $14,000 from a foreign worker so he could be considered for employment here.

A total of $326,305 in cash was found in Ho’s home during an MOM raid on Nov 19, 2020, according to court documents.

The MOM prosecutor said that at the time of his offences, Ho was the operations manager of Lian Cheng Contracting, which was the subcontractor for the Nee Soon and Pasir Ris-Punggol town councils.