A 26-year-old Indonesian woman was sentenced to nine months in jail by a Singapore District Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to withdrawing S$9,400 (US$6,900) from her employer’s account with an ATM card on multiple occasions last year.
Lifi Nurfitriyah pleaded guilty to six counts of theft and theft as a servant. She secretly took the POSB Bank ATM card of her 72-year-old female employer surnamed Or and withdrew money from the account in June 2016, The Straits Times reported.
On July 4, 2016, Or printed an update of her POSB Bank passbook, which showed that a total of S$9,400 had been withdrawn without her knowledge, which prompted her to be suspicious of her Indonesian maid, who had left briefly afterward because of the end of the employment contract.
Police reviewed surveillance video of the Rivervale Plaza POSB branch, which showed that Nurfitriyah had made several withdrawals ranging from S$500 to S$2,000 from an automated teller machine between June 19 and 24, 2016.
The suspect was arrested on July 31 this year when she returned to Singapore to work for another employer.
Nurfitriyah told police that she had secretly memorized the PIN of Or’s ATM card so she could withdraw money from her account, and each time she would place the card back in her employer’s wallet so that she would not notice.
According to Singapore law, persons convicted of theft can be jailed for up to three years and/or fined for each count, while the maximum penalty for theft as a servant is seven years in jail and a fine per charge.
Gigie Agduyeng you have to be fair on your point, and I do agree that both sides have plenty to lose, without your agents you can’t even get to here in the first place. You don’t expect them to take you here for free including their efforts to bring you here. You are a live in maid and that is part and parcel of your contract. Nothing is free in this world. Who you work for is also your Luck or unlucky if you come across employers who are stressing you with long hours of work. Like what you say, wake at 5a.m. And sleep at 12 a.m. You could take a 2 hours nap in the afternoon when they go to work or kids go to school. Don’t sign on the dotted line if you don’t agree. You are responsible for what you sign for before you come over. I can only say that you are in a give and take position. Good employers will not make you work non stop without rest. If you work with good employers you will be spoiled because you have plenty of rest time that you can get lazy too. So all these depends on your choice of who you want to work for. Don’t sign blindly and then complaint later. Good luck to you & God Bless You.
Adeline Cheo its not only employers who paid the angency as wel also paid the agency here and also paid back in philippines and if you know salary deduction. I paid salary deduction for 8 months, i worked hard in that house, less food and even sleep late at night 12am then wake up 5 am. After paying my agency that employer told me to transfer since they don’t need me anymore, i didn’t even get a money fo myself for that months and transfer again and pay another 2months agency fee again! We don’t get much salary, but still maids are being taken for granted i am not saying all but atleast 50%.
Gigie Agduyeng it’s not a matter of cheaper labour, it’s a matter regarding Honesty and also majority are Live-in Maids and Employer pays for Levy to Government every month, and if include the maid live in expenses it is not cheap labour anymore. We are talking logic in general not those who are short changed or being stingy and selfish with their maid. It has to be both ways. Some maids treat coming here as holiday and then changed, after a short while. Become irresponsible, sloppy and very bad work Attitudes. Employers also pay agents fees to bring the maid here.
I dont think there are such useless thing, if employer want a better work then they should consider paying more to reach their standard and not to get the cheaper labor and complained afterwards! Easy as that!
I think she wants to take more money from next employer????
The old lady should be more careful
Thats right
Malu Maluin
Stupid Maud ! She should not come back.
Oh my gosh
You deserve
Ngisin2na bae mba ,,ga sesui dgn indahnya namamu tp pencuri …aku disini udah 13 thn ga pernah nyuri ..
Alfredo Estioco Pomucino : Thank you.
Well said !
Our law are too lenient when sentencing these Thiefs who are here on Work Permits. If the Judges had been stricter, it will help deter more such crimes from happening often, especially those whose intentions is to steal or cause harm to employers.
It have to be carried out both ways, if employers are ill treating their employees, the law have to be strict too, especially too if Agents are irresponsible in bringing useless ones, recklessly without proper training and unfit medically.