HR: what do your expat workers do just before they leave for home?

Singapore doesn't like anti-social behaviour and vandalism - especially graffiti - is at the top of its list.

So when 32 (or 33, depending on the source of the information) year old Swiss "business consultant" Oliver Fricker and his accomplice, Briton Lloyd Dane Alexander, allegedly broke into a depot surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire and - prosecutors say - spray painted an MRT train - which was put into service before anyone noticed - it is viewed with considerable seriousness. The damage is extensive.

Anyone who has been brought to near vomiting by the smell of fast food and canned beer on trains in London will appreciate that Singapore is rightly proud of its MRT system in which even drinking bottled water is an offence. Those who are used to litter chasing London's Underground trains down the track will be enthralled by the pristine state of the Singapore system - in part differentiated by the fact that, for security reasons, London has long had no rubbish bins on stations and the instruction to commuters when they were first removed was to drop rubbish and it would be cleared away by staff. Despite that being revised to a "take it home" message, sweet and other wrappers abound.

Fricker appeared in Court yesterday without legal representation having been arrested on 25 May. His bail was set at SGD100,000 because he was considered a flight risk - Dane has already left Singapore. The maximum penalty is a fine of SGD2,000 plus restitution costs and/or jail max three years and/or caning. He told the Court that he had been due to leave Singapore two days after his arrest.

Singapore authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Alexander who is suspected to have flown to Hong Kong but whether he is still there is not known. He left Singapore before the incident was reported to police. Singapore's border controls are surprisingly strict for a small nation and suspects are reported to immigration within a very short time of an investigation being launched to prevent them leaving the country. The system was tightened still further some two years ago after a Malaysian was made bankrupt but was able to leave Singapore two hours after the Order because the message had not reached immigration.

The train was spotted by commuters who made a video and posted it on YouTube, further adding to Singapore's ire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CV4JYKBEQo. In a delicious irony, the video shows the train leaving a platform empty except for one elderly woman. She is sweeping up.