S'pore court sentences Indian to jail for using money deposited by mistake
However, soon after the transfer, the woman was told by a company director that the account to which she moved the money was not associated with the firm and that they did not receive the amount
Fortyseven-year-old Periyasamy Mathiyazhagan was sentenced to nine weeks in prison in Singapore for not returning SGD 25,000 (approximately Rs 16 lakh) that got deposited to his bank account last year by mistake. According to The Straits Times, Mathiyazhagan used some of this money to clear his debts and sent the remaining to his family in India, even when he knew that it was not his money.
In the court, Mathiyazhagan admitted to misappropriating the funds. On April 6, 2023, an administrator in a plumbing and engineering company, in which Mathiyazhagan worked during 2021-2022, transferred the money to his account thinking she was sending it to the company to pay off a personal loan.
However, soon after the transfer, the woman was told by a company director that the account to which she moved the money was not associated with the firm and that they did not receive the amount. The Straits Times quoted the State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) as saying: “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.”
Soon, the woman contacted Mathiyazhagan’s bank for assistance in retrieving the fund. Four days later, the bank sent a letter to his last known address, which was also the company’s address, alerting him about what happened and requesting him to return the sum.
A month later, the bank informed the woman that Mathiyazhagan refused to transfer back the money to her account, following which she filed a police complaint. Investigation revealed that Mathiyazhagan knew about the error and moved the money to another account in May 2023.
In May, Mathiyazhagan, told to the company’s director that he used the money to pay off his debts. In November 2023, during police interrogation, he said he had used the money to pay off his debts and sent some to his family in India. Mathiyazhagan requested for more time to repay the woman and even suggested a monthly payment plan of SGD 1,500 (about Rs 96,000). However, there has been no recovery from him so far.
One user wrote, “How dumb was this guy? He thought the money wouldn’t be tracked to him?”
Another user wrote, “Honesty is not about doing the right thing when everyone’s looking, it’s about doing the right thing when no one’s looking.”