Singaporean arrested for immigration abuse

Singaporean arrested for immigration abuse

JAKARTA (JP): A Singaporean man has been arrested for abusing
his short stay visit visa by working for a securities company in
West Jakarta, an Immigration official said yesterday.

Head of immigration's control and supervision department,
Zaiman Nurmatias, said the man, identified as Low Soen Sim, had
worked for a firm called UOBB Securities for some time.

Low was arrested Thursday at UOBB's office on Jl. Gajah Mada,
Central Jakarta.

Zaiman said Low entered the country via Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport on May 29, with the short stay visa.

"The facility was given only for tourism, conventions and
other social culture purpose visits. Not for work," Zaiman said.

He said the immigration office had also seized evidence which
showed that Low had received wages from the company.

Low had respectively received Rp 3.1 million (US$1,270) and Rp
2.4 million for his May and June wages. He was also given an
accommodation allowance of at least Rp 130,000 a night, Zaiman
said.

He had signed a letter on work procedures at the securities
company, which he had denied, Zaiman said.

The company's director Harjanto Tjandra told immigration
officers that Low was assigned by the Singapore-based UOB
Investment Research to conduct a feasibility study on mutual
funds in Indonesia.

Tjandra said the results of Low's study would be used by his
company.

"We provided a separate room for Low to work in at the office.
But the money we gave him was not a salary, it was used to
entertain our business colleagues," Tjandra said.

Zaiman said many foreigners may have abused immigration
permits.

He called on companies to follow immigration procedures and
arrange work permits at the Ministry for Manpower if they were to
hire foreigners.

He said Low would be extradited to Singapore as soon as the
immigration office completed investigations.

The office arrested 79 foreigners between January and May this
year for abusing immigration permits. (cst)