Singapore Immigration focuses on Life in Singapore: According to the Singapore United Morning Post, a married man in Singapore arranged a sham marriage for his foreign mistress to stay in the country. As a result, the scheme was uncovered, and investigators traced the leads, revealing another sham marriage case, leading to the conviction of six individuals.
Feng Zhiqiang (41), Tang Qiuxia (36), Lei Mengluo (42), Xu Tiancai (41), Feng Shiwei (40), and Zheng Cijun (37) were involved in two sham marriage cases. They were convicted between August last year and July this year for providing false information to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to obtain residence permits, receiving sentences of two to four weeks in prison.
The case shows that Feng Zhiqiang met the Chinese woman Tang Qiuxia in May last year, and they developed feelings for each other and began dating. To obtain a residence permit in Singapore, Tang Qiuxia registered a marriage with local man Lei Mengluo on June 19 last year, arranged by a "middleman." Feng Zhiqiang attended the wedding as a witness.
The case indicates that Lei Mengluo agreed to the sham marriage for monetary compensation, and the two never cohabited after the marriage. Lei Mengluo lived in the Canberra Road area, while Tang Qiuxia resided in a private apartment in Yishun with friends.
The prosecution stated that Feng Zhiqiang was fully aware of the sham marriage and even frequently drove to pick up Tang Qiuxia from the Yishun apartment after the "marriage."
One month later, Feng Zhiqiang assisted Tang Qiuxia in applying online for a Long-Term Visit Pass, claiming that after the marriage, Tang Qiuxia lived with Lei Mengluo at the Canberra Road unit, and falsely stated that Tang Qiuxia was pregnant, with a due date in January this year.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority subsequently arranged to meet with Lei Mengluo and Tang Qiuxia for further review of the application, but the two ultimately did not show up. It was not until August 2 last year that Tang Qiuxia was arrested during a police roadblock for overstaying, which revealed the sham marriage incident. Investigators further discovered that Xu Tiancai had provided false information in April last year to assist Tang Qiuxia in extending her stay.
Additionally, another man who witnessed the registration of marriage between Tang Qiuxia and Lei Mengluo, Feng Shiwei, was also involved in another sham marriage case.
Feng Shiwei registered a marriage with Chinese woman Zheng Cijun on July 19 last year, but the two lived separately after the marriage with no connection.
Tang Qiuxia and her sham husband Lei Mengluo were each sentenced to four weeks in prison on August 10 and 21 last year, respectively. Zheng Cijun was sentenced to four weeks in prison on September 6 last year, while her sham husband Feng Shiwei was sentenced to two weeks in prison on March 7 this year. Xu Tiancai was sentenced to three weeks in prison on April 2 this year.
Feng Zhiqiang was the last defendant convicted in this case; he pleaded guilty on the 18th of last month and was sentenced to four weeks in prison.
In December last year, Parliament passed a bill to increase the maximum penalties for related offenses, raising the maximum penalty for using sham marriages to assist foreigners in obtaining residence permits to a fine of up to S$10,000, or imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both. In the first half of this year, a total of 139 individuals were convicted of related crimes, of which 43 were convicted under the new provisions.
