Man jailed for lying to get new passport

In February this year, 38-year-old Singaporean Fong Poh Huat had travelled to Vietnam to look for business opportunities and also to search for his estranged Vietnamese wife.

But he went to gamble at a casino and lost more than S$10,000.

He borrowed US$12,000 (S$15,400) from another gambler and continued to lose money at the gambling table.

He then signed an agreement with the man who loaned him the money, agreeing to repay him, handing over his Singapore passport as collateral.

He later went to the Consulate-General in Ho Chi Minh City to ask for a Document of Identity (DOI), an emergency travel document to return to Singapore.

In the application for the DOI, he said he had "dropped his passport".

After his return in March, he went to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to apply for a new passport.

This time, he said his passport was taken away by a motorbike rider.

The ICA said the man was eventually charged with making two false statements to the ICA and the Consulate-General of Singapore in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He has been sent to jail for three months.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

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