A TOP-RANKING immigration official was hauled to court on Tuesday to face 27 charges, including harbouring an illegal female immigrant from China.

Thong Sing Hock, 50, a deputy superintendent with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), was a senior commander in charge of ground operations at the Tuas checkpoint between February 2004 and March 2006, when he allegedly committed most of the offences.

He has been suspended since 2006 and has been on half-pay since May of that year.

Between 2003 and 2006, he allegedly let Chinese national Ms Song Qinghua and her friend Mu Qian use his home address to get social visit passes.

He is accused of helping Ms Song Qinghua produce a passport with the name Ms Song Qi. The document was was used during immigration checks between 2004 and 2006.

Singapore's anti-graft agency says he acted as her sponsor and bought her a plane ticket to Singapore in Dec 2004. On six other occasions, he allegedly bought her tickets to Singapore, Bangkok and China.

He also set up Ms Song in an apartment in the Lakepoint condominium and at Yuan Ching Road, both in Jurong, according to charges read out in court .

He also faces a spate of charges under the the Computer Misuse Act.

Among them, in February and March 2006, he is accused of using an ICA computer to access his own travel records along with those of Ms Song Qinghua and Ms Song Qi.

Thong is also accused of entering Singapore on Jan 12, 2006 and failing to produce his passport to an immigration officer at Changi Airport.

He disputed some of the 27 charges after they were read to him by an interpreter. He told District Judge Victor Yeo that he wanted to get a lawyer.

His case will be mentioned again on Feb 12.

He was released on $30,000 bail and his passport was impounded.

Under the computer abuse act, the maximum penalty is a fine of up to $5,000 or a jail term of up to two years, or both, on each charge.

If convicted of harbouring, he can be jailed for between six months and two years and fined up to $6,000.