MAN YEAR ENTITLEMENT SCHEME (Illegal practices)

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MAN YEAR ENTITLEMENT SCHEME:

(Illegal practices): 6.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how many contractors have been prosecuted each year, over the last five years, for selling their foreign worker quota or Man Year Entitlement; (b) what measures have been, or will be, implemented to mitigate this problem; and (c) if any changes will be made to improve the Man Year Entitlement scheme and prevent such illegal practices.

The Minister for Manpower (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mr Speaker, Sir, Man Year Entitlement (MYE) trading involving a corrupt act or fraudulent applications are

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offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Penal Code respectively. Therefore, such cases are referred to the CPIB or Police for investigations. In the past five years, a total of 31 employers have been prosecuted. In addition, MOM would debar these contractors from future work permit applications.

The Member asked if improvements have been made to the MYE system. Since April this year, we have also made several changes to enable the construction sector to better use their workers. Contractors can now renew the work permits of workers who have worked here for six or more years outside the MYE system. In other words, such renewals do not require MYEs. Contractors are also allowed to deploy their workers to work for other contractors, during lull periods.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Sir, I would like to ask the Minister, as the Minister noted earlier, that since April, some changes were made to the Man Year Entitlement system to make it more flexible, how is it then that it was reported in the Straits Times of 29th June, that the practice of selling quotas to labour agents is so rife that it is actually an open secret. Is MOM following up on this issue? Are steps being taken to verify these reports and to determine how is it that such a situation has arisen? Again, does it mean that contractors have been over-allocated with Man Year Entitlements whilst some other sub-contractors have actually suffered from a shortage and are forced to buy from these labour agents? Would the Ministry consider other forms of allocating Man Year Entitlements, such as allocating the Man Year Entitlements to a neutral agency to be awarded to sub-contractors, besides the main contractors?

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Dr Ng Eng Hen: Sir, if the Member knows of any instances, please inform the Ministry and we will follow up. As I have said, in the last few years, we have prosecuted 30 persons. Out of the 31 cases, three were prosecuted for corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act and for cheating under the Penal Code. Offenders who were convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act were fined between $40,000 and $250,000. In cases where custodial offences were meted out, jail terms range from one to four months. We cannot stop people from rampantly or indiscriminately disobeying our rules. But if anyone knows of any figures or facts, or any particular instances, please inform MOM and we will follow up.

Do we want to change the system and allocate MYEs to a neutral party, assuming that the neutral party would be law-abiding? I do not think it would quite work. The issue is enforcing, and enforcing it rigorously. However, we do recognise that the industry needs certain flexibility, for example, different contractors in different periods may face peaks and troughs for contracts. And that is why we introduced two measures to allow them to do that. Previously, the MYEs were allocated to that contractor. Now, with the consent of the worker, one contractor can deploy his worker to another. At the same time, we have also allowed companies to apply for work permits outside the MYE system. In other words, you do not need a MYE system. There is no quota system. But these are for skilled workers who have worked here for six years or more. Since we introduced this, a number of companies have applied for this, and there were 794 companies, which means that they find this useful. We will monitor this particular measure to see whether greater flexibility can be introduced subsequently.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Sir, I would like to ask the Minister, for the errant

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cases that were caught, how were they actually brought to the attention of the Ministry. Was the Ministry informed of this? A related question would be: would the Ministry then utilise its Intelligence Unit, as was referred to by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary, to actually try and flush out such errant labour agents because it was reported again in the press that a call by the reporter actually revealed that she was offered such workers from a labour agent?

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Sir, sometimes, MOM acts proactively and sometimes reactively. We do react to complaints. At the same time, in terms of intelligence capabilities, when our officers do identify certain syndicates, we act upon them. As I said to the Member, if she knows of any particular instances, please let us know and we will act on them.