A local doctor has been dragged to court to face the music for allegedly aiding his American boyfriend in deceiving the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in order to obtain an employment pass for him.
The offence was allegedly committed because the 36-year-old’s foreign lover was, in fact, HIV positive. As far as romantic gestures go, conspiring to cheat a government agency is highly inadvisable, FYI.
Foreign HIV-positive individuals are prohibited from getting work passes in Singapore, and they will be deported immediately if test results turn out positive.
The Straits Times reported that 32-year-old American Mikhy Carrera-Brochez submitted Dr Ler Teck Siang’s blood for tests in March 2008 in his bid to get an employment pass from the MOM. In November 2013, Ler’s blood was submitted again to MOM, allowing Farrera-Brochez to retain his employment pass.
The doctor — an infectious diseases specialist — had worked as a medical officer at the Health Ministry’s Communicable Diseases Division from 2012 to 2014.
The couple had met each other online, and the American moved to Singapore in 2008, a year after he entered into a romantic relationship with the doctor. It was back in March that Farrera-Brochez — who was a polytechnic lecturer here — got 28 months in prison for cheating, lying to a public servant, possessing drugs (a ketamine and cannabis mixture), and using forged educational certificates. The man had pretended to be a professor in child psychology.
Ler is now on trial for multiple alleged offences. Aside from helping to cheat the MOM, he is accused of giving false information to public servants — he was said to have lied to investigations officers from the Health Ministry’s Surveillance and Enforcement Branch, as well as the police.
The doctor could be fined and/or jailed for up to 10 years if convicted for cheating, and as well as get up to a year in jail and/or a $5,000 fine for each charge of lying to a public servant.
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