By DPA
Singapore : An Indian national who bought a fake degree in botany and used a passport bearing his cousin’s name was jailed for two weeks and fined 6,000 Singapore dollars (over $3,900), news reports said Friday.
But claiming Shivalingam Chandrasekaran was the “best employee”, his boss paid the fines and said she wants him back at work.
Chandrasekaran, who had worked in the city-state in the 1990s as a work permit holder, decided to re-enter soon after his return to India in 1998.
Claiming he naively followed the advice of his agent to secure an employment pass, Chandrasekaran obtained an Indian passport in the name of his cousin and bought a fake botany degree stating he graduated from Mandurai Kamaraj University, The Straits Times said.
The ruse was discovered earlier this year by the manpower ministry.
Instead of disappointment at being deceived, his employer said she was so impressed with Chandrasekaran’s work at Bollywood Veggies as a farm supervisor that she hired the best lawyers for his defence, paid his fines Thursday and wants him back on the job.
Boss Ivy Singh-Lim was quoted as describing Chandrasekaran as a “very committed employee”.
“He has been such a blessing to me that I am willing to adopt Chandrasekaran as my son,” she added in her court testimony.
Lawyer Muralli Rajaram said Chandrasekaran had come back to Singapore out of desperation for money to send to his sick father. Matters worsened when his first wife committed suicide and he had to pay his relatives to look after his son, now 14.
Singh-Lim said she would appeal to authorities to allow Chandrasekaran to continue to live in Singapore.