A 47-year-old Indian national, Periyasamy Mathiyazhagan, has been sentenced to nine weeks in prison by a Singapore court for failing to return SGD 25,000 (approximately Rs 16 lakh) that was mistakenly transferred to his bank account. The incident took place on April 6, 2023, when an administrator at his former plumbing and engineering firm mistakenly deposited the funds, believing it was the company’s account.
On October 14, Mathiyazhagan pleaded guilty to the charges of misappropriation. During the court proceedings, he disclosed that he had utilized the funds to pay off personal debts and had also sent a portion of the money to his family in India.
According to court documents, the administrator, who remains unnamed, had taken a personal loan from the company and intended to repay it when she mistakenly transferred the funds to Mathiyazhagan’s account. Upon realizing the error, she promptly informed the company’s director and sought assistance from the bank to recover the funds. However, the bank sent a letter regarding the erroneous transfer to the company instead of Mathiyazhagan directly, which delayed the recovery process.
The state prosecutor, Lim Yeow Leong, explained that after the erroneous transfer, the complainant was advised by the company director that the account did not belong to the firm. By May 9, the bank informed the administrator that her request for the return of the funds was unsuccessful. Subsequently, on May 23, she filed a police report.
Investigations revealed that Mathiyazhagan had become aware of the money in his account earlier in May and, despite knowing it was not rightfully his, transferred the entire amount to another account over four transactions on May 11 and 12. When confronted by the company’s director about the funds, he admitted to using the money to settle debts.
In a police interview conducted in November 2023, Mathiyazhagan indicated that he had sent a portion of the money to his family and requested more time to return the cash, proposing a repayment plan of SGD 1,500 per month. As of now, he has not made any restitution, and the SGD 25,000 remains unrecovered.
Sources By Agencies
