Story and pictures by Tan Tze How Kelvin
Would you want to leave for a greener pasture that offers a salary four times of your current one?
Samal did.
In Dec. 2007, Samal was at Serangoon Plaza, a popular weekend gathering area for South Asian migrant workers, when he was approached and given a flyer that offered employment opportunities in Canada and Australia.
The 33-year-old Blangadesh national, who has been working in Singapore as a construction worker for the past 10 years, then went up to Nilu’s Singapore Pte. Ltd to check out the offer.
For Samal, it was an attractive deal. The candidate will be offered a two-year employment contract in Australia as a “Farm Hand” at the company named “Aussie Farm Pty. Ltd.”
The basic salary is $25 Australian dollar an hour. Overtime rate is 1.5 times of the basic salary, while Saturday’s hourly rate is twice of the basic salary. On public holidays and Sunday, the rate is as high as three times of the basic salary.
“They told me the pay could go up to A$4,000 easily a month,” Samal told TOC.
He said that his current salary in Singapore is about $1,000 per month if he works for about 13 hours daily, seven days a week.
In order for him to apply, Samal had to pay a “processing fee.”
On Dec. 9, 2007, Samal paid $500 Singapore dollar as his first-term payment. He showed TOC a generic receipt issued by the agency, Nilu’s Singapore Pte. Ltd. The receipt bore no company stamp on it.
Samal was then told to go for a medical check-up, which cost him $149.80. Samal said that he paid the remaining $3,500 of processing money on Feb. 23.
“They guaranteed [that] we will go [to] Australia in three months,” Samal said.
Fellow Bangladesh construction worker, Mojammal, also faces the same predicament.
The 36-year-old also claimed to pay $4,000 in total to the agency, only to find himself with a generic receipt and still stuck in Singapore.
When they approached the agency six months after the second payment, hoping just to take back the $4,000 they paid, they were met with cold shoulders.
“They asked us to go away and said they have no money to pay us,” Samal said. “They [the agency] said you can go to report [to the] police or MOM.”
Mojammal said that the agency had also suggested that he resign from his current job, terminate his work permit in Singapore and go back to Bangladesh first to wait for the Australian company to fetch him over.
Samal and Mojammal are not the only ones who paid a lump sum of money for a broken dream.
In Feb. 2009, six Bangladesh workers, including the duo, took the case to Small Claims Tribunal.
The tribunal handles civil cases arising from a contract for the “provision of services”, with claim amount not exceeding $20,000.
TOC visited the agency on Feb. 8, but it was closed. On Feb. 9, TOC managed to contact the agency for a comment.
Sarjaj Singh, one of the directors of the agency, told TOC that they are “going through the proper channel” in handling this matter.
“We have made a police report and everything will have to go through our lawyers,” he said.
He told TOC that they have also lost a lot of money since “an agent, a Singaporean, ran away.”
“Since this matter has gone to court, we cannot disclose [more] information,” he said.
This is not the first time such a dispute has happened in Singapore.
A. K. M. Mohsin, Chief Editor and CEO of Banglar Kantha, a Bangladeshi newspaper in Singapore, thinks that the six of them may just represent the tip of an iceberg.
In the Sept-Oct 2008 issue of Banglar Kantha, he wrote about common scams such as recruiting agency taking huge amount of money from foreign workers with the fake promises of better opportunities overseas.
He also estimated that there are about a hundred workers, including Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka nationals who are in face of the same problems but do not know where to seek help.
Meanwhile, Samal and company are paying off their debt of $4,000 which they have borrowed from moneylenders and friends.
“I have to pay back [an additional of] $400 [of] interest every month,” Samal claimed.
“I thought if the pay was good in Australia, [in] one or two months, I can pay all the money [borrowed],” Samal told TOC.
When TOC asked Samal about his plans if he is unable to get back the money, he looked dejected.
“I will consider this my very, very bad luck,” Samal said. “And I want to warn other people never ever to do this.”
The second hearing at the Small Claims Tribunal is set on Feb. 27.
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Kelvin Tan is a Communications and New Media graduate of NUS. He was a journalist with prominent student newspaper, The Ridge.
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Wonderful… our JCS is also going to help Singaporean snakeheads runnig such companies.
What say you now, my dear elite labour MPs?
MOM should step in to investigate and bring the errant “possible scam/con” agency to court. What are our elite scholars doing?
Our half-baked scholar is better off refining policy to generate more taxes for government. You think they so free got time to care for these small things?
eliminating snakeheads is not part of their KPI.
peg their bonus to the number of frauds and all problems can be solved.
Not fair to blame the government for this scam. The police should now do a thorough investigation and lawyers should represent pro bono these victims to claim refunds.
I did a very quick search on the Australian Securities & Investments Commission website, which has a list of registered Australian businesses. Not surprisingly, “Aussie Farm Pty. Ltd.” doesn’t exist.
Similar names exist though: “Aussie Farm Produce Pty. Ltd.” and “Aussie Farmer Pty. Ltd.” are two close ones.
Most probably a scam, it seems.
One more argument towards that direction: I don’t think farmhands are in shortages in Australia. Firstly, many farms only need additional manpower during harvesting seasons (so it can’t be such a contract job as suggested by the agency). Secondly, they’ll most often advertise to backpack travellers, which makes lots of sense because it works for both sides. Personally, I’ve seen lots of flyers for such jobs in Australian backpacking hostels.
Right now, things are sketchy, but I do hope that the workers do not fall into a legal loophole (e.g. cannot prove that they paid the agency the money, or the agency promised what they said) that allows the agency to escape justice.
Thanks to Kelvin for the report!
Thanks for the report. Its rather disgracing to find such activities carried out here.
seems there are loopholes in setting up those agancy companies.
wish it could go to higher courts, and stop all these agency problems.
The thought of JCS going to unscrupulous Repatriation Companies that bully foreign workers just makes my blood boil.
I have been cheated about $10k of products and services by a registered company controlled by a bankrupt who was a seasoned conman. I lodged report to both police and CAD. That was 7months ago still no action from them. This is how effective our home team is!
There is little that foreign workers can do in such situations. a couple of Chinese and Filipino workers have approached HOME before with complaints that they were cheated by local employment agencies. As the amounts of money they pay to them are usually 5k or less, they will be referred to the small claims tribunal to seek redress. Even if the tribunal rules in favour of the workers, it is the enforcement of these judgements that is an uphill task as they will need to pay a lawyer to guide them through the bureaucratic maze of enforcing a court order.
I came here as student, and was also fooled by Nilu pte ltd.I have returned to seek justice and ensure this does not happen to others.So far i have reported the matter to CID and Mom,,and awaiting further advice.
It might sound stupid..but actually poverty does push people like us to hope that even such incredible promises might turn out to be true..
If there are any lawyers or good hearted citizens out there who might step forward to help me AND the dozen others i know,,please contact me..chaitanya570@gmail.com
Hi all .
I’m looking for worker , for my restaurant , if u can do that plz contact me . 0162026062.