WHEN the company he was working for went bust, Mr Michael Teo, 44, was jobless for four months.

Then, he chanced upon an advertisement promising an attractive pay package and good job prospects.

He got the job, but the last thing he expected was to end up without a salary after working 14-hour days for three weeks.

DESPERATE

Mr Teo said though the recruitment ad looked odd, he decided to call out of sheer desperation.

'There wasn't even a company name on the advertisement, just a contact number,' he said.

In mid-April, he was asked to attend an interview at an office in the City Hall area, where he spoke to a middle-aged man who claimed to be a wealthy Middle-Eastern sheikh.

Mr Teo claimed that during the two-hour interview, the sheikh said he had links to a royal family in the Middle East and had business dealings worth billions.

His company's website lists its core businesses, which included oil and urea trading, and trading in precious stones and minerals.

Said Mr Teo: 'He only asked me one question, and that was how I would be able to contribute to the company.

'The rest of the time, he told me about how his father was a prince, and that his company was developing projects in Morocco worth billions.'

Even though he felt the sheikh's tales sounded far-fetched, Mr Teo decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and took up a job offer as a marketing executive with the company.

He started work last month, working up to 14 hours a day.

His duties, he recalled, consisted mainly of sending e-mails to the sheikh's business associates in France, the US, Ukraine and Mauritius.

Finally, he received a cheque for half a month's salary on 8 May, amounting to $793.

But he was notified by the bank the next day that his cheque had bounced.

He then tendered his resignation.

At least four of his former colleagues were also not paid their salaries.

A former administrative executive at the company, who declined to be named, said the company still owes her about $1,800. She has also resigned and is now unemployed.

She recalled of her former boss: 'He led a lavish lifestyle. On previous trips to Singapore, he stayed at an expensive hotel for a few months, and rented a house in the Orchard area.'

But it seems he may have run into financial trouble.

The New Paper received an e-mail exchange between a bank and the sheikh's secretary, stating that his bank accounts had been closed due to account misconduct.

Current employees said the electricity supply to the office was also cut off by the building's management last Friday, possibly because rent was not paid.

The electricity remained off till Monday when the sheikh allegedly turned it back on his own.

The sheikh was not in when The New Paper visited the office yesterday.

A handphone number which used to belong to him is now out of service.

The New Paper understands he now rents a house at Yio Chu Kang.

His landlord, Mr Stanley Tan, said his tenant had been repeatedly late with paying rent. But Mr Tan said he had paid last month's rent on Monday, after he was threatened with eviction.

The sheikh's employees have since lodged a complaint with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

MOM is investigating the case.

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 14, 2008.