Intl law

SINGAPORE: Low-income foreigners will only be allowed to take a maximum loan of S$500 from licensed moneylenders, as the Ministry of Law on Monday (Jul 15) announced further restrictions on the amount they can borrow. Currently, foreigners earning less than S$10,000 annually are allowed to borrow up to S$1,500 from all licensed moneylenders combined. From Tuesday, the loan cap will be lowered to S$500. “With the existing cap on borrowing cost at 100 per cent of the loan principal, this ensures that the maximum repayable amount (loan principal and all permitted interest and fees) is kept to a more manageable S$1,000 at any one point,” said MinLaw in a media release. READ: Loan caps for those borrowing from moneylenders to take effect end-November READ: Work pass holders who borrow from unlicensed moneylenders to face repatriation The new regulation was among several measures announced on Monday to stem the increase in cases of moneylenders targeting work pass … [Read more...] about Loans for low-income foreigners, maids, capped at S$500 under new licensed moneylending rules

SINGAPORE: A male nurse at a hospital in Singapore molested a patient last year while attending to her in the ward, stopping only when a female nurse walked in. When she left, he continued. The 26-year-old man was on Thursday (Sep 26) sentenced to 10 months' jail and three strokes of the cane for molesting the victim. The court heard that the victim had medical issues including kidney stones and depression. At about 6pm on Aug 28, 2018, she had pressed a button to call for assistance, meaning to tell the medical staff about her depression. The accused, who cannot be named due to a gag order preventing the publishing of anything that could identify the victim, attended to her as he had been placed in charge of the room. He spoke to her and used his right hand to hold onto her hand while using the other to touch her forehead, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Bjorn Tan. He then used both hands to massage the woman's breasts, both over and under her clothes. "The victim was … [Read more...] about Male nurse molested patient in the hospital ward, gets jail and caning

TASMANIA: This week marks the first 100 days of regime change in Malaysia. And the verdict? It’s all good. Most Malaysians are willing to give Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad an extended honeymoon for the simple reason that they know you cannot completely change a system that was embedded in every layer of Malaysian society in 100 days. I was recently asked what Malaysians actually want from the new Mahathir administration. The answer is actually very simple. Malaysians only want two things from Mahathir: “Zero tolerance for corruption” and “accountability for those holding positions of power”. This is exactly what Mahathir is doing thus far. Najib has been arrested and charged in court. At the same time, the new administration is “cleaning house” by removing and replacing hundreds of senior officials and coming up with plans to restructure key public institutions. READ: Many unrealised promises as the Pakatan Harapan government approaches 100 days in office, a commentary … [Read more...] about Commentary: Mahathir’s 100 days in office and the extended honeymoon period in Malaysia

SINGAPORE: To settle his financial problems, a man plotted with his mother to fake her death and get payouts from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board and various insurance companies. Abraham Rock, 36, made claims amounting to about S$3.77 million in relation to his mother's supposed death in a Pakistan traffic accident, and about S$129,300 was paid out by the CPF board and NTUC Income. For his crimes, Rock was jailed on Thursday (Sep 26) for three years and 10 months, while his mother Talat Farman, 54, was jailed 13 months. The court heard that Rock was facing financial difficulties in 2017 when he devised a plan to commit insurance fraud by faking his mother's death. He did research on which insurance policies gave the highest payouts after the insured person dies, and discussed this plan with his Pakistani uncle Sheikh Muhammad Kamran. The plan was to fake his mother's death in a road accident, in order to double the death benefit coverage when the death involves the … [Read more...] about Mother and son jailed for faking her death to get millions in CPF, insurance claims

Every Friday evening, instead of unwinding to the latest Netflix series or heading to a bar — or partaking in some other activity often associated with the spirit of TGIF — Collin Chua, 31, and Ryan Goh, 34, can be found busying themselves in their fish shop at Tampines Street 44. Behind half-closed shutters, the owners of Seafood Boy , together with two staff, unload and weigh the bounty they’ve collected from local fishermen, and prepare to auction off the day’s haul via a Facebook Live session. They are not the only ones. Live auctions are a pretty ubiquitous phenomenon on Facebook these days. Countless merchants and retailers — both big and smaller brands — are tapping on the platform’s live video broadcast feature to sell, promote or educate the masses about their products and offerings. The premise, at least for Seafood Boy, is simple: Facebook users, many of whom are already followers of the company’s page, participate in the weekly auctions by joining a live stream, which … [Read more...] about Now live-streaming: Millennial duo brings their fish shop online