Operations Manager Fined RM40,000 for Using Forged Documents in Foreign Worker Quota Application

(Kuala Lumpur, October 08)  The operations manager of a construction contracting company was fined RM40,000 today after pleading guilty to two counts of document forgery in his application for foreign worker quotas. If the fine is not paid, the 46-year-old defendant, Hong Bo Pei (transliteration), will serve a five-month jail sentence, according to Judge Roszli Ahmad.

The charges state that Hong used falsified documents, specifically a service contract between his company, Star Domain Resources Sdn Bhd, and Monash University Malaysia (Sunway campus), as part of the company’s foreign worker quota application in Malaysia.

Hong also submitted a forged document purporting to be a contract between his company and OSK Trustee’s Axis Business Park, despite knowing the document was fake. These actions were committed on July 14, 2022, at the Ministry of Human Resources in Putrajaya, breaching Section 471 of the Penal Code, punishable under Section 465, which carries a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Case details reveal that as operations manager, Hong submitted a foreign worker quota application through the eQuota system to the Peninsular Malaysia Labour Department for the 2022-2023 period. His goal was to secure a conditional approval letter for the entry of Bangladeshi workers.

The company requested a quota for 980 foreign workers, which was approved on July 26, 2022. However, an investigation revealed that two of the cleaning service contracts submitted in support of the application were falsified.

The prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Fatin Fahana from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), while Hong was represented by attorney Wan Syariza.