Mustafa Centre's HR under fire for corruption

Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower is investigating Mustafa Centre for alleged employment offences following complaints that HR had been collecting “cashbacks” from staff.

According to MOM, the retail giant is also under probe for other violations under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, including work pass offences.

Recently, the ministry received several complaints from Mustafa’s employees. One case detailed how the HR department allegedly collected a cut of staff’s monthly salaries after it was deposited into their accounts.

A former senior sales executive at the store’s jewellery department said that he had to give HR between $600 and $1,000 monthly depending on how much he earned in overtime.

He said the HR manager and/or his assistant would approach him monthly for the “cashback” and that “no one knows where the money goes to”.

He claimed that he was not the only worker who was forced to give back part of his salary and had urged his colleagues to report the practice.

The monthly occurrence had only stopped in October 2017 after Mustafa Centre was caught in a legal dispute, reported The Online Citizen.

In addition to kickbacks, Mustafa had also allegedly stopped renewing S-passes in May this year. This affected about 100 foreign workers.

MOM issued special passes to affected workers to remain in Singapore and assist in investigations.

Without elaborating on the extent of the complaints, an MOM spokesperson told The New Paper that investigations are ongoing.

If found guilty of kickback offences, Mustafa Centre can be fined up to $30,000 and/or jailed for up to two years for each charge.

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