Storeman jailed 8 months for cashing excess of $15,300 from forged pay cheques
He used diesel to amend the numbers and words on his pay cheques and managed to cash out $15,300 more than what was due to him.
Farhat Abbas Mohammed Amir, 38, was jailed eight months after he pleaded guilty in the State Courts on Wednesday (25 April) to two counts of forgery of a valuable security. Two other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The storeman received his monthly salary from a logistics company in the form of cheques twice a month. For March last year, Farhat had received two cheques of $680 and $188.17.
By using diesel, Farhat changed the numbers from $680 to $6,080, and another from $188.17 to $5,088.17.
He also removed some of the words that stated the original amounts and amended them from “six hundred eighty” to “six thousand eighty”, and from “one hundred eighty eight and cents seventeen” to “five thousand eighty eight and cents seventeen”.
In total, Farhat forged four cheques totalling $17,523.67 this way, and received $15,300 in access of his salary for the month, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Charis Low.
The offences came to light when the company conducted an audit last April and discovered the discrepancies between its bank statements and cheques issued to Farhat.
DPP Low asked the court to jail Farhat a total of eight months, pointing out that no restitution was made.
Representing himself, Farhat asked District Judge Lorraine Ho for leniency, saying that he was the sole breadwinner supporting his Pakistani wife and three children.
He said that he was alone in Singapore as his wife and children lived in Pakistan. His wife had also taken loans that he needed to help repay, Farhat added.
Farhat could have been jailed up to 15 years and given a fine for each offence.
