The Prevention of Human Trafficking Act 2015 (PHTA) is a statute of the Parliament of Singapore that criminalizes Trafficking-In-Persons (TIP) especially vulnerable individuals.
The law is designed specifically to make acts of knowingly receiving payment in connection with the exploitation of a trafficked victim a criminal offence.
The PHTA firstly provides enforcement of severe penalties that criminalizes any individual that receives monetary compensation that arises from the exploitation of a victim that is trafficked, especially women and children.
[2] Under this Act, anyone found guilty of recruiting, harbouring or conveying a child below the age of 18 for the purpose of exploitation, whether abroad or not, is liable to a maximum penalty of imprisonment of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $100,000 and caning of up to six strokes.
Khairulanwar admitted to 4 out of 18 charges – 3 under the Act for recruiting a child under the age of 18 for sexual exploitation and receiving payment from the exploitation of one of these underage girls, and one under the Penal Code for sexual penetration of a minor under 16 years of age with consent – against him; the other 14 charges – involving Khairulanwar's trafficking of 7 other girls for prostitution and receiving payment from the earnings of his victims – were taken into consideration during sentencing.