Immigration Act: Guilty unless proven innocent

This is contrary to the criminal-law principle, which states that a person is normally presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Such legal presumption is also applied to other laws. In the Misuse of Drugs Act, a person is presumed to be a trafficker if he is caught with the equivalent of 2 g of pure heroin or more.

In immigration cases, once an illegal immigrant is caught staying in a flat, the owner is deemed to have harboured the immigrant knowing that the tenant has no entry permit.

In previous cases, Chief Justice Yong Pung How had said that for the owner to prove his innocence, he had to show that he had actually checked the tenant's documents diligently.

This includes examining the tenants' passports and comparing the particulars with their work permits. The owners must also check with the tenants' employers if the documents are in order.

If such checks are carried out, lawyers say, the courts are less likely to find the owners guilty as they would have rebutted the presumption. "Even if the documents later turn out to be fake ones, the owners can escape if they have done the necessary checks because it could be that the forgery is so good that even the employers are fooled," said a lawyer.

But he noted that in most cases, the offenders either did not check the documents at all or conducted only a cursory check.

CJ Yong has ruled that when employers or landlords make such checks, they must verify the documents personally and cannot ask others, such as employees or housing agents, to do it on their behalf.

If they are caught, they will go to jail, not the negligent employee or agent.