SINGAPORE: An Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer who obtained sexual favours in exchange for helping people get visit passes was sentenced to 22 months' jail on Thursday (Sep 11).
Kannan Morice Rajagopal Jayaram, 55, has been suspended and ICA said it would begin disciplinary proceedings against him following his conviction in July.
He had pleaded guilty to three charges of corruptly obtaining gratification in the form of sexual acts in exchange for helping the bribers with short-term visit pass applications.
Another three similar charges were considered in sentencing.
Kannan, who first joined ICA in 1996 and became an inspector in June 2021, was a team leader of the agency's Visit Pass Unit.
He oversaw 10 to 11 officers who reported to him and handled the processing of applications by foreigners seeking to extend their stays in Singapore. The unit also handled overstayers in the country and cases involving the loss of travel documents.
While there were prevailing guidelines governing short-term visit pass extensions, Kannan's subordinates had the discretion to grant or reject extensions with enough justification.
They would consult Kannan if they encountered difficulties, and Kannan had the discretion to approve any short-term visit pass extension applications that his team handled.
Despite knowing that it was not right for him to contact foreign short-term visit pass applicants and initiate sexual meet-ups with them, Kannan did so anyway.
Court papers detailed his encounters in 2022 and 2023 with three men - Indian nationals aged between 25 and 30 - who had come to Singapore to study.
Kannan performed sex acts on the men in separate encounters at his home.
The third man was a 25-year-old who came to Singapore to study business management and was required to undergo a six-month internship as a waiter as part of his studies.
He went to ICA's headquarters in January 2023 to apply for an extension of his short-term visit pass as his work permit application was still pending approval from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
At the walk-in counter, the man was told by the attending ICA officer that he had to purchase a flight back to India in about a week, as his short-term visit pass could only be extended until then.
The man spotted Kannan walking around the counter and called a friend who had a contact in the ICA. He was given Kannan's number and subsequently spoke to him, having his fears about his pass expiring assuaged by Kannan as his work permit was later approved by MOM.
In late January 2023, the man went to Tekka for lunch and was contacted by Kannan for beer at Kannan's home.
The man went over, as he wanted to obtain more advice about how to extend his stay in Singapore.
They drank at Kannan's home and Kannan subsequently said he liked the man and wanted to have sex with him. The man agreed, as he knew Kannan was an ICA officer and could help him extend his visit pass duration.
Kannan performed sex acts on the man, but the man left midway as he no longer wished to receive the sex acts. He later sent Kannan a message wishing him "good morning" to avoid making him angry for leaving.
On Jan 26, 2023, a day after his short-term visit pass expired, the man was advised by his agent in India to apply for an extension as he could not rely on the screenshot of his work permit being approved to stay in Singapore.
The man called Kannan about this and Kannan told him to report to ICA's headquarters with his passport and work permit application screenshot to get an extension.
Kannan also told the man not to roam outside in case he got arrested for overstaying and to give Kannan a call once he arrived at the ICA walk-in counter or send a photo of his queue number to Kannan.
The man went to ICA headquarters to apply for the extension on Jan 30, 2023, but Kannan did not answer his call. The man sent a photo of his queue number to Kannan, but Kannan did not see it.
The man was attended to by another ICA officer who told him he had overstayed and was liable to pay a fine of S$50. He was granted a short-term visit pass extension until Feb 14, 2023.
The visit pass extension application was later assigned to Kannan's subordinate for processing. The officer consulted Kannan for advice, and Kannan instructed him to approve the application for two weeks.
At that time, the man was in fact an overstayer.
The prosecution sought between 30 and 36 months' jail for Kannan, calling this an "appalling case" where a veteran officer and team leader at ICA "persistently" received sexual favours from six foreigners in exchange for helping them with their short-term visit pass extensions.
"In order to help them, the accused disclosed operationally sensitive information and abused his managerial position," said the prosecution.
The givers of the corrupt sexual gratification were "undoubtedly vulnerable" and "obviously feared returning to their home countries, knowing full well they would likely encounter financial difficulties in returning to Singapore", the prosecution added.
"Instead of acting as a custodian of our borders and as an impartial, unbiased, public representative of Singapore, the accused exploited these young foreigners," said the prosecutors.
"He knew that they badly needed the short-term visit pass extensions. He capitalised on their fears of being forced to leave the country, and manipulated them into satiating his desires. In short, he created a web of corruption to serve himself as its centrepiece."
The judge allowed Kannan to begin his jail term on Sep 18.
Continue reading...
Kannan Morice Rajagopal Jayaram, 55, has been suspended and ICA said it would begin disciplinary proceedings against him following his conviction in July.
He had pleaded guilty to three charges of corruptly obtaining gratification in the form of sexual acts in exchange for helping the bribers with short-term visit pass applications.
Another three similar charges were considered in sentencing.
Kannan, who first joined ICA in 1996 and became an inspector in June 2021, was a team leader of the agency's Visit Pass Unit.
He oversaw 10 to 11 officers who reported to him and handled the processing of applications by foreigners seeking to extend their stays in Singapore. The unit also handled overstayers in the country and cases involving the loss of travel documents.
While there were prevailing guidelines governing short-term visit pass extensions, Kannan's subordinates had the discretion to grant or reject extensions with enough justification.
They would consult Kannan if they encountered difficulties, and Kannan had the discretion to approve any short-term visit pass extension applications that his team handled.
Despite knowing that it was not right for him to contact foreign short-term visit pass applicants and initiate sexual meet-ups with them, Kannan did so anyway.
Court papers detailed his encounters in 2022 and 2023 with three men - Indian nationals aged between 25 and 30 - who had come to Singapore to study.
Kannan performed sex acts on the men in separate encounters at his home.
The third man was a 25-year-old who came to Singapore to study business management and was required to undergo a six-month internship as a waiter as part of his studies.
He went to ICA's headquarters in January 2023 to apply for an extension of his short-term visit pass as his work permit application was still pending approval from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
At the walk-in counter, the man was told by the attending ICA officer that he had to purchase a flight back to India in about a week, as his short-term visit pass could only be extended until then.
The man spotted Kannan walking around the counter and called a friend who had a contact in the ICA. He was given Kannan's number and subsequently spoke to him, having his fears about his pass expiring assuaged by Kannan as his work permit was later approved by MOM.
In late January 2023, the man went to Tekka for lunch and was contacted by Kannan for beer at Kannan's home.
The man went over, as he wanted to obtain more advice about how to extend his stay in Singapore.
They drank at Kannan's home and Kannan subsequently said he liked the man and wanted to have sex with him. The man agreed, as he knew Kannan was an ICA officer and could help him extend his visit pass duration.
Kannan performed sex acts on the man, but the man left midway as he no longer wished to receive the sex acts. He later sent Kannan a message wishing him "good morning" to avoid making him angry for leaving.
On Jan 26, 2023, a day after his short-term visit pass expired, the man was advised by his agent in India to apply for an extension as he could not rely on the screenshot of his work permit being approved to stay in Singapore.
The man called Kannan about this and Kannan told him to report to ICA's headquarters with his passport and work permit application screenshot to get an extension.
Kannan also told the man not to roam outside in case he got arrested for overstaying and to give Kannan a call once he arrived at the ICA walk-in counter or send a photo of his queue number to Kannan.
The man went to ICA headquarters to apply for the extension on Jan 30, 2023, but Kannan did not answer his call. The man sent a photo of his queue number to Kannan, but Kannan did not see it.
The man was attended to by another ICA officer who told him he had overstayed and was liable to pay a fine of S$50. He was granted a short-term visit pass extension until Feb 14, 2023.
The visit pass extension application was later assigned to Kannan's subordinate for processing. The officer consulted Kannan for advice, and Kannan instructed him to approve the application for two weeks.
At that time, the man was in fact an overstayer.
The prosecution sought between 30 and 36 months' jail for Kannan, calling this an "appalling case" where a veteran officer and team leader at ICA "persistently" received sexual favours from six foreigners in exchange for helping them with their short-term visit pass extensions.
"In order to help them, the accused disclosed operationally sensitive information and abused his managerial position," said the prosecution.
The givers of the corrupt sexual gratification were "undoubtedly vulnerable" and "obviously feared returning to their home countries, knowing full well they would likely encounter financial difficulties in returning to Singapore", the prosecution added.
"Instead of acting as a custodian of our borders and as an impartial, unbiased, public representative of Singapore, the accused exploited these young foreigners," said the prosecutors.
"He knew that they badly needed the short-term visit pass extensions. He capitalised on their fears of being forced to leave the country, and manipulated them into satiating his desires. In short, he created a web of corruption to serve himself as its centrepiece."
The judge allowed Kannan to begin his jail term on Sep 18.
Continue reading...