BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

A BRUNEIAN woman who posed as an agent for domestic workers and duped $22,920 out of 11 people was punished with a two-year jail term.

During the proceedings yesterday, Magistrate Hjh Ervy Sufitriana Hj Abd Rahman further ordered Naruza Garip, 34, to return $22,920 to the victims.

The court went on to say that failure to pay the compensation would result in the defendant serving 18 months and two weeks in jail after serving her two-year jail sentence.

The defendant had pleaded guilty to multiple cheating charges.

The court document, which was submistted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Yvonne Lim, stated that from 2011 to 2013, Naruza had been taking money from her victims after she promised to provide them with a foreign domestic worker on a two-year contract basis.

After meeting with potential employers, Naruza had asked them to select a maid from the biodata which she had created and request for a deposit to secure the maids or gardeners from the potential employers.

The deposit she had requested from the potential employers varied from $500 to $2,500. One of the victims had paid as much as $5,500 to secure a domestic worker who did not exist.

Once the defendant received the deposit from the potential employer, she would then find a female foreigner on a social visit pass who would act as the domestic worker.

On occasions when she could not find anyone, Naruza would give excuses to the potential employers as to why the maid had not arrived before stopping contact with the potential employers.

Naruza would also bring the foreigners on a social visit pass to the employer’s house the next day. After several days at the new employer’s house, Naruza would either take away the “maid” or had a representative go on her behalf on the pretext that the “maid” had to undergo medical examination and process her identity card.

On several occasions, the defendant had continued to replace the “maids” several times to convince the employers that she was an authorised agent and that they would eventually get a maid so as to hide the fact that she was not able to provide domestic workers.

The monies she had obtained from the complainants were purportedly used for processing fees and air tickets. However, it was revealed that the monies that she received were for personal use.

After victims lodged a police report, the police found that the defendant was not an authorised agent and that Naruza never processed any applications at the Labour Department or the Immigration and National Registration Department.

She later admitted to cheating the complainants by deceiving them into believing she was able to secure maids or gardeners.

The Brunei Times