Indian man in Singapore sentenced to jail for using Rs 16 lakh mistakenly transferred to his bank account – Firstpost

A 47-year-old Indian national was sentenced by a Singapore court to nine weeks in prison for failing to return an amount of SGD 25,000 (approximately Rs 16 lakh) that was mistakenly transferred to his bank account even though he knew the funds did not belong to him.

On October 14, Periyasamy Mathiyazhagan pleaded guilty to misappropriating the funds, telling the court that he used them to pay off debts and sent some of them to his family in India.

Periyasamy was employed with a plumbing and engineering company in 2021-2022.

His legal troubles began on April 6, 2023, when the company’s administrator mistakenly transferred an amount of SGD 25,000 to his bank account, thinking it was the company’s account. Court documents list her (unnamed) as a complainant in the case.

State Public Prosecutor (SPO) Lim Yeow Leong told the court that the woman had taken a personal loan from the company and wanted to repay it.

“After making the erroneous transfer, the complainant was informed by (the company director) on the same day that the account did not belong to the company and the company had not received the funds,” The Straits Times quoted the SPO as saying.

The woman then told Periyasamy’s bank about the erroneous transfer and sought his help in recovering the money.

On April 10, 2023, the bank sent a letter addressed to it, informing that the woman had asked for a cash refund.

Instead, the letter was sent to the company because bank records identified it as Periyasamy’s last known address.

On May 9 of the same year, he informed her in another letter that her request for a refund had not been granted.

Then, on May 23, she filed a police report.

Investigations revealed that earlier this month, Periyasamy discovered that the money had been deposited in his bank account.

The SPO stated that the perpetrator did not expect to receive such a large sum of money and knew that it did not belong to him.

Despite this, on May 11 and 12, he transferred S$25,000 to another bank account in four separate transactions.

Sometime towards the end of the month, the company’s administrative staff noticed that the bank’s letter addressed to Periyasamy had been sent to the company instead.

The company’s director called him to the company, handed him a letter and asked him for a refund of SGD 25,000.

Periyasamy replied that he used the entire amount to pay off his debts.

During a police interrogation in November 2023, he told officers that he had also given some of the money to his family in India.

He asked for more time to refund the woman and offered a monthly repayment of S$1,500.

According to the newspaper, to date he has not recovered the money and has not made any compensation.

With agency input.