A 47-year-old Indian man residing in Singapore has been sentenced to nine weeks in jail after he misappropriated SGD 25,000 (approximately ₹16 lakh) that was mistakenly deposited into his bank account. Instead of returning the funds to their rightful owner, Periyasamy Mathiyazhagan used the entire amount to settle his debts and even remitted a portion to his family in India.
The Mistaken Transfer
Mathiyazhagan, who worked as an administrator at a plumbing and engineering firm, was the unintended beneficiary of a personal loan mistakenly transferred by a company employee. The employee believed she was depositing the money into the company’s account when, in fact, it went into Mathiyazhagan’s account.
According to The Straits Times, after the erroneous transfer, a director at the firm informed the complainant that the account did not belong to the company. The employee quickly contacted Mathiyazhagan’s bank, seeking help to recover the funds. Four days later, the bank sent a letter to Mathiyazhagan’s last known address, notifying him of the request for the return of the transferred amount.
Refusal to Return the Funds
A month after the initial letter, the bank informed the employee that Mathiyazhagan had declined to return the funds, prompting her to file a police report. Investigations revealed that Mathiyazhagan was aware of the transfer and had already moved the money to another bank account through four separate transactions in May.
In late May, after receiving a letter from his company regarding the funds, Mathiyazhagan admitted to having used the money to pay off his debts, stating that he had also sent some of it to his family in India. When approached by the police in November 2023, he proposed a repayment plan of SGD 1,500 (about ₹96,000) per month, but no funds have been recovered from him to date.
Public Reaction
The case has sparked a range of reactions on social media platforms like Reddit, where users expressed disbelief at Mathiyazhagan’s actions. Comments ranged from mocking his decision to use someone else’s money, to critiques of a perceived culture of scamming in India. One user noted the disparity between how such cases are handled in Singapore compared to India, emphasizing the accountability enforced in Singapore.
This incident serves as a poignant reminder that actions have consequences, especially in matters involving financial misappropriation.
