SINGAPORE: The director of a construction company was given three weeks’ jail after paying for forged training certificates, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Monday (Apr 3).
Ko Woei Hin, a director at Wang Sheng Design & Build, was sentenced last Thursday for the offences that were committed about seven years ago.
Wang Sheng was in the construction industry and provided safety supervisors when other firms took up construction projects.
In April 2016, Ko was told by one of his foreign employees that they knew how to obtain forged Building Construction Safety Supervisor Course certificates (BCSS), MOM said.
“This would mean that the foreign employees need not attend any formal training and assessment,” the ministry added.
Ko tasked the employee with obtaining two such certificates at a cost of S$500 (US$375) per certificate.
The forged certificates were purportedly issued by AMI Consulting, an accredited training provider.
“AMI entered the false BCSS records into MOM’s training record system to indicate that Ko’s foreign employees had attended the BCSS course,” the ministry said.
“On the basis of these false records, the foreign employees’ work permits were allowed to continue.”
MOM uncovered the forged certificates and false records in June 2016 during routine surveillance of training providers.
CNA has asked MOM for more information about its investigations into AMI Consulting.