Training company director sold forged safety documents to workers
The director of an unaccredited safety training company was jailed for forging certificates from accredited companies and selling them to construction workers.
Mohammad Faizul Arafin Siddiqui, 34, the director of Prosafe, was yesterday sentenced to 78 weeks in jail.
He pleaded guilty to 28 counts of forgery with another 73 similar charges taken into consideration. He forged at least 100 safety documents over more than a year.
Prosafe was not accredited by the Ministry of Manpower, and had little demand for its courses.
To make more money, Faizul hatched a plot to forge certificates and sell them to workers via a network of at least 27 agents.
These agents were typically construction workers who were able to source customers from their own workplaces.
Faizul ran his criminal enterprise from late 2014 till March 2016. He obtained copies of legitimate certificates and cards issued by other training providers and used these as samples to create the fakes.
The agents would source for potential customers and send their details to Faizul, who would print the fakes in his home before handing them to agents for distribution.
The agents would handle money collection and receive a small commission for each fake.
Faizul made several thousand dollars each month through the scheme.
The fakes included safety certificates for lifting supervisors, work at height and metal scaffolding erection.
He was caught after police on a routine patrol saw him handing the fakes to an agent on March 2, 2016.
His home was raided the next day and police found he tried to dispose of several fakes. They also recovered at least 73 other fakes.
Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei urged the court to jail him for at least two years.
But Faizul's lawyer Sunil Sudheesan said his client made less than $20,000 from the scheme, and asked for him to be jailed for at most a year.
He added his client was pursuing a doctorate in management studies at the Indian Institute of Business Management and Studies to turn over a new leaf.
District Judge Toh Han Li approved his application for a deferment of sentence till June 1. The defence made the application on the grounds he may complete his doctorate before going to jail. Faizul is currently out on $45,000 bail.
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