A 47-year-old Indian national, Periyasamy Mathiyazhagan, has been sentenced to nine weeks in prison after failing to return $25,000 that was mistakenly credited to his bank account.
Despite being aware that the funds did not belong to him, Mathiyazhagan used the money to settle personal debts and sent a portion to his family in India, according to ST.
DEATILS OF THE CASE
On October 14, Mathiyazhagan pleaded guilty to charges of misappropriation in a Singapore court. His legal troubles began on April 6, 2023, when an administrator at the plumbing and engineering firm where he was employed inadvertently transferred the funds into his account, mistakenly believing it to be the company’s account.
The complainant, a company administrator who is a woman who had taken a personal loan from the firm, was informed later that day by a director that the account was not associated with the company and that the firm had not received the money.
The woman contacted Periyasamy’s bank regarding a mistaken transfer and requested assistance in recovering the funds. On April 10, 2023, the bank sent a letter to Periyasamy, informing him of her request for a refund. However, the bank mistakenly sent the letter to his company, listed as his last known address in their records. Later, on May 9, the bank notified the woman in a subsequent letter that her request for the funds’ return had not been successful.
Following unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the money, the administrator filed a police report on May 23, the report added.
Investigations revealed that Mathiyazhagan had learned of the erroneous deposit earlier in May and, despite knowing it did not belong to him, proceeded to transfer the full amount to another bank account across four transactions on May 11 and 12.
Later in May, when staff at the firm discovered the letter from the bank in regard to the deposit, the director confronted Mathiyazhagan and requested the return of the money. He informed the director that he had already spent the funds to clear his debts.
During a police interview in November, Mathiyazhagan acknowledged the transfer, noting that he had also remitted part of the money to support his family back in India. He requested more time to return the money and proposed a repayment plan of $1,500 per month, but to date, he has made no restitution, and the funds remain unrecovered.
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