Singaporean man faces jail time after getting paid for sham marriage with foreigner to settle S$100,000 gambling debts

SINGAPORE, July 27 — To pay off debts amounting to about S$100,000 (RM347,000) that he had built up from a gambling addiction, Teo Wei Jie entered into a marriage of convenience with Vietnamese woman Tran Ngoc Phuong Thao.

On Friday (July 26), Teo, 27, was sentenced to eight months and eight weeks in jail after pleading guilty to two charges: One of entering into a marriage to assist a party in obtaining an immigration advantage in exchange for gratification, and one of making a false statement to obtain a pass for another person.

Another three charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

Teo will begin serving his sentence on August 5.

In a statement issued to the media on Friday, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that it takes a serious view of individuals trying to “circumvent” the system by engaging in, arranging or assisting to arrange a marriage of convenience to obtain immigration facilities in Singapore.

“We will continue to take firm enforcement action against errant couples and middlemen,” it added.

Arrangements for a sham marriage

The court heard that sometime in December 2022, a friend of Teo informed him of a “quick way” through which he could earn money. This friend, named in court documents as “Jason”, is a Singaporean and is currently at large.

Jason had proposed to Teo the idea of entering into a marriage of convenience with a foreign spouse to prolong her stay in Singapore.

For his part, Teo would act as her resident sponsor and apply for visit passes so that she could remain in Singapore.

In return, Teo would be paid the following:

Teo, who was unemployed, saw this as a way for him to pay off his mounting debts.

He took about a month to consider the proposal, knowing that it is illegal to enter into a marriage of convenience.

Throughout this period, Jason continued asking if he was keen on the arrangement.

A month later, Teo agreed to take up the offer.

Jason then asked for a photo of Teo’s national registration identity card, so that he could create false payslips.

These false payslips were meant to deceive the authorities into believing that Teo had an income and so had the financial means to act as a sponsor for the foreign spouse’s long-term visit pass application.

Around the same period, Jason also gave the Vietnamese woman’s mobile phone number to Teo.

He told Teo to speak to her and to get to know her, so that Teo could answer if the authorities asked any questions about her.

Jason then arranged for the pair to meet in February last year, to discuss the payments for the arrangement:

Teo and the woman both agreed to the above.

He would also sponsor her visit pass applications as her husband — in name only — to prolong her stay in Singapore.

The plan was, after three years, once she had made all the payments, he would then divorce her.

After the meeting, Jason asked that Teo allow the woman to stay in his house after the solemnisation, to create a facade of a genuine marriage, should the authorities conduct checks.

However, Teo declined because he did not want his parents to know about this.

Jason then advised the pair to place their respective clothes at each other’s residences to create the impression that they were staying together.

They should also send each other phone text messages regularly and to keep these messages so that the authorities, if they check, would think that the marriage was a genuine one.

A month after that, Jason met Teo and told him to log into the websites of ICA and the Registry of Marriage (ROM).

Jason then uploaded on these websites the false payslips and the pair’s particulars to register the marriage.

He also informed Teo that he had arranged for two witnesses to attend the solemnisation.

Separately, sometime around March and April last year, Teo was approached to be a witness for two other sham marriages that Jason had arranged and was paid S$200 each time.

Marriage solemnised

On April 4 last year, Teo and the woman went to ROM to collect their marriage certificate and to sign a declaration form.

Two days later, the solemnisation took place at Hard Rock Hotel on Sentosa Island that Jason had booked.

After the marriage, she and Teo lived separately and did not consummate the marriage.

Teo began receiving monthly cash payments of S$1,000 from her starting from May last year. He also received extra cash payments of up to S$200 to cover the costs of the visit pass application fees and other miscellaneous expenses.

Sometime before May 20, Teo submitted an application for a long-term visit pass for the woman.

Later in July, he signed a tenancy agreement for her upon her request. She moved into the residence with her friend and settled its monthly rental payments.

She and Teo never resided together in the rental unit, although he changed his registered address to that of the unit to make the marriage of convenience look like a real marriage.

In October, Teo took the woman to visit his father at his own home, where he introduced her as his girlfriend. Court documents did not state why Teo did so.

Between March and April this year, the woman moved to a different residence. Teo then changed his registered address back to that of his own home.

In total, he received around S$19,000 in payment. This included S$6,000 for entering into the marriage, 13 monthly payments of S$1,000 from May 2023 to May 2024, and other cash payments on an ad-hoc basis.

The woman’s long-term visit pass application was rejected by ICA on May 5 this year and Teo was later arrested by ICA on June 5.

For entering into a marriage to assist a party in obtaining an immigration advantage in exchange for gratification, Teo could have been jailed for up to 10 years or fined up to S$10,000, or both.

For making a false statement to obtain a pass for another person, he could have been jailed up to 12 months or fined up to S$4,000, or both. — TODAY