Ex-DJ Daniel Ong recalls being spat on after he was accused of underpaying Twelve Cupcakes workers
He said they were "belittled and abused" every day on social media.
Former radio DJ Daniel Ong recalled being spat on in public after the Twelve Cupcakes "scandal" where he and his ex-wife were accused of underpaying Twelve Cupcakes workers.
He revealed this to actor-host Allan Wu in a YouTube podcast posted on Jan 2.
Ong recounted: "Besides being abused, I remember like being spat on by people in public. People would walk up to me and spit at my feet and just tell me what a bad human being I am.
"I said, 'Excuse me, ma'am? Can I just tell you what it was?'
"Took a one-minute explanation, then she went 'Oh, sorry, sorry.'"
He had co-founded Twelve Cupcakes in 2011 with then-wife Teo, who was Miss Universe Singapore 2001.
They started employing foreign workers in 2012, and seven of them were underpaid between 2013 and 2016.
The couple divorced in 2016 and sold the firm to Kolkata-based Dhunseri Group for $2.5 million.
In 2021, Ong pleaded guilty to 10 charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act and was fined $65,000 for failing to prevent Twelve Cupcakes from underpaying its foreign workers.
He explained what happened in the podcast: "We needed a lot of workers really fast. We hired an employment agency. It was only these two quite elderly folk and they were handling our hiring.
"I remember signing a lot of papers. These papers would just be the last final sheet (of eight sheets)...
"We found out at a much later time that a lot of these workers were reported as having a $2,000 salary, but their salary was actually $1,700. So they were like underpaid.
"But the main thing about this is that we never saw what was the first seven sheets of paper before than. So this agency basically filled in the blanks, wrote whatever they wanted just to get the workers in. We would sign on the final sheet of paper and we wouldn't see the front.
"So when the MOM (Ministry of Manpower) officer came to us in 2019, we were like I never even seen this whole stack before. None of my signatures are on the first few pages...'But is this your signature at the end? Yes, therefore you're guilty.'
"It came to a point like should we be looking for the employment agency? They disappeared. They're no longer around. They're like retired and they can't find them. This company ceases to exist. They couldn't be held accountable.
"The only people that were accountable were the directors of the company. In fact, the HR manager of Twelve Cupcakes was my sister...
"In the end, because the directors of the company (were) me and Jaime, so I think we were left holding the blame."
But he also admitted: "When you say you don't know, it's also wrong because as a director, it is your duty to go and find out."
Being directors of Twelve Cupcakes at the time of the offences, Teo was fined $65,000 while Ong's sister, Yvonne, was fined $20,000 in 2021.
