A 47-year-old Indian national was sentenced to nine weeks in jail by a Singapore court for using money he received in his bank account by mistake to settle his debts and also remitting portion of its to his family back in India, news agency PTI reported.
The man, named Periyasamy Mathiyazhagan, worked for a plumbing and engineering firm from 2021 to 2022. On April 6, 2023, an administrator at the firm transferred Singaporean dollar (SGD) 25,000 ( ₹16 lakh approximately) to the man's bank account, assuming it was the company's account. State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Lim Yeow Leong said that the administrator intended to pay off a personal loan she had availed from the company.
Also read | Singapore’s India-origin LoP goes on trial for lying in Parliament
“After making the erroneous transfer, the complainant was informed by (a director at the firm) on the same day that the account did not belong to the company, and the company did not receive the cash,” The Straits Times quoted SPO as saying.
The woman administrator then informed the man's bank about the erroneous transfer and sought help to recover the money. The bank, on April 10, 2023, sent a letter to the man's address explaining about the transfer and asked him to return the money.
Also read | Singapore Colleges Are New Travel Hotspot for China’s Tiger Moms
{{/usCountry}}The woman administrator then informed the man's bank about the erroneous transfer and sought help to recover the money. The bank, on April 10, 2023, sent a letter to the man's address explaining about the transfer and asked him to return the money.
Also read | Singapore Colleges Are New Travel Hotspot for China’s Tiger Moms
{{/usCountry}}But the letter reached the company itself as the man's last known address registered with his bank was the company's address itself. As the letter failed to reach the man's address, the bank informed the company's administrator that her request for recovering the money was unsuccessful.
She then lodged a police complaint on May 23, 2023. Police investigation revealed that the man had discovered earlier in May 2023 about the huge sum of money deposited into his account.
The SPO informed the local court that the offender was aware that the huge sum of money did not belong to him and was transferred by mistake. Despite this, he transferred the entire money to another bank account over four separate transactions on May 11 and 12.
Also read | Visa-free getaway: Singapore residents can now explore Indonesia’s Batam, Bintan and Karimun Islands hassle-free
Later that month, the company's staff noticed that the bank's letter to the man seeking a return of money had reached the company itself. Later, he was summoned to the company and asked to return the money, but he replied that he had used the entire sum to pay off his debts.
During police interrogation, he also revealed that he had remitted a portion of that money to his family in India and requested for more time to return the money through a monthly payment of SGD 1,500. But The Straits Times reported that the money has not been recovered till date.
(With PTI inputs)