Vietnamese woman jailed in Singapore for sham marriage

A  Singapore court has sentenced a Vietnamese woman and her Singaporean “husband” to six months in jail for entering into a marriage of convenience.

31-year-old Vietnamese Tran Thi Kim Phuong and Theong Peng Nyuk, a 47-year-old Singaporean man, have become the first couple to be tried under the amended Immigration Act (IA), aimed at preventing false marriages, Channel NewsAsia reported.

During a holiday to Singapore in 2009, Phuong met a Singaporean man and they fell in love, although the man was married.

Phuong has since travelled to Singapore regularly to be with her lover.

In order to be eligible to stay in Singapore to be with the married man, Tran agreed to enter into a false marriage with another man, Theong Peng Nyuk.

They agreed that Theong would be paid S$5,000, plus S$300 for every successful visa extension he obtained for Phuong.

The couple registered their “marriage” on 31 January 2013, and after having lunch they went their own ways. Phuong stayed in a budget hotel, while Theong continued living in his home.

They would only meet at the Immigration Checkpoints Authority (ICA) office when Tran needed to extend her Visit Pass.

But ICA officers had been keeping a close eye on them and arrested both on March 22, pursuant to the new Section 57C of the revised IA.  

Accordingly, both Phuong and Theong were charged with two counts of making false statements to obtain a visit pass, and one count of entering into a marriage of convenience.

They were convicted on May 23 and each was sentenced to six months in prison.

Phuong was given an additional charge of making a false declaration in her disembarkation and embarkation card.

Previously, the penalties for the offence were imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months and a fine not exceeding S$4,000, or both.

But under the new laws, the maximum jail term is 10 years and the highest fine is increased to S$10,000.

Vietnamese woman jailed in Singapore for sham marriage