Have you ever wanted something very much?
If so, you have probably thought about what lengths you’re willing to go to in order to get what you want.
For one Chinese businessman who wanted to get Singapore citizenship, lying and paying a six-figure sum to get what he wanted was fine.
Unfortunately (but expectedly), he was caught by the local authorities.
Here is more on what happened to him.
Man Lied in His Employment Pass Application
By now, we all know just how powerful and covetable the Singapore passport it.
It seems that being a Singapore citizen is so desirable that some people are willing to go to extreme lengths and do illegal things to get that red passport.
A Chinese businessman, Zhang Qingqiao, fell afoul of the law when he tried to “cheat” his way into becoming a Singapore citizen.
Zhang is 37 years old, and he holds Chinese citizenship.
Since 2012, he has been investing in Singapore while still based in China.
He wanted to move his whole family to Singapore and settle down on our shores. His grand plan included getting permanent resident status and later being a Singapore citizen.
To achieve this, he made a false declaration to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) that he was working for a local company.
This false declaration would put him in a position to earn an employment pass.
He was eventually successful in his employment pass application.
Shocking, right? Even the local authorities can make a mistake when vetting such applications.
While working in a Singapore company to try and score a better life for yourself and your family may seem like a good and legitimate plan, what went wrong for Zhang?
The main kicker for Zhang is that he never intended to work for the Singapore company.
So, obviously, he shouldn’t have made such false declarations that he was working for the company just to get the employment pass application.
Man Paid $360K to Attempt to Get Singapore Citizenship
If by now you’re thinking that this scheme was too risky and doomed to fail, we can’t agree less.
Why, then, would the company agree to this? Did they not think it was a trap?
In short, money is king.
For the company’s efforts to pretend to hire Zhang, Zhang agreed to pay the company $360,000.
That’s not a small sum of money, so we can see how it would have been pretty tempting for the company.
Interestingly enough, this $360K for an employment pass scheme only came up after Zhang rejected paying $2 million for permanent resident status in a short three years.
It seems like this company is pretty money-faced, no?
There Was a Middle Person Brokering the Transaction Between Man and Company
And if you’re wondering how two parties managed to pull off this complex transaction, the answer is that there was actually a middle person helping them.
Zhang had used a woman called Wang Jue or Jess to find the company to invest in and falsely “work” for.
They even managed to fabricate information like Zhang drawing a high monthly salary of $10,000 for his “efforts” when working for the company.
The conspirators also plotted that Zhang would not need to do any work for the company, not even report to their premises to shake leg.
Zhang had met this woman when he was thinking about how to get permanent resident status in Singapore, back in 2019.
He Was Caught by the Authorities and Sentenced to Jail
Of course, with many illegal transactions in Singapore, the authorities are quick to sniff out things that are amiss.
The local authorities discovered Zhang and the company’s nefarious plans.
What followed next was Zhang being charged with one count of making a false declaration to the Controller of Work Passes.
He initially pleaded not guilty, and his team of crafty lawyers argued that Zhang had been misled by the woman to walk down this illegal path.
Could this be the proverbial dog biting the hand who fed him?
Whatever the motivations for trying to get out of his crimes, Zhang was eventually convicted and found guilty of his charge by the local courts.
This landed him a four-week jail term.
Oh well, we guess his dream to be a permanent resident and Singapore citizen are also up in flames now.
The good thing though, is that this imprisonment term of four weeks is shorter than what the prosecution had sought for Zhang to punish him for his scheming.
The prosecution had sought for four to six weeks of jail time for Zhang.
In convicting Zhang, the presiding judge for this case considered how there was substantial evidence showing that Zhang knew what he was doing when entering those illegal transactions.
As a businessman, he would have had access to legal counsel and advice to make the decisions he made.
There was also a long period of lying, 18 months in fact, during which Zhang falsely owned a work pass.
This would have adverse effects on Singapore’s immigration policy and deprive deserving people of a permanent resident spot.
Perhaps in this case, it’s also fun to consider how Zhang’s crime came to light.
While it is unclear exactly how Zhang’s misdeeds were uncovered, it may have something to do with the local authorities clamping down firmly on such false declarations.
Earlier this year, another Chinese national, Yu Huajie, was caught and sentenced for similar offences.
One thing’s for sure, the government’s always watching.
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