An Indian-origin woman in Singapore has been jailed for her attempts to cheat the government.
Rajagopal Malini, 48, has been sentenced to 16 months in jail. While pronouncing the verdict, the judge noted that her attempt to cheat the government would have been at the expense of taxpayers’ money meant for COVID-19 Support Grant.
Malini had committed the offences between July and September last year including a forged termination letter from the condominium she worked at in an attempt to claim money from the COVID-19 Support Grant.
The Straits Times reported that Malini took cash given to her by residents for their maintenance fees of more than 4,000 Singapore dollars, and used a stolen credit card on a 13,500 Singapore dollars shopping spree with her children and their friends in September last year to “shower her children with love”.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Stacey Fernandez informed the court that Malini’s forged letter, dated August 1, 2020, bore the Euphony Gardens condominium letterhead as she had access to the letterhead on her office computer, which she used to write notices and correspondences with the condo’s residents, reported PTI.
When the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) called the condominium manager, he informed that the contents of the termination letter, dated August 1, 2020, were false. And thus, the forgery was discovered.
The condominium manager also made a police report in October saying that “Rajagopal had pocketed cash she was tasked to collect from residents for the condominium’s Management Corporation Strata Title fees for maintenance.”
While Malini’s lawyer Bozy Lu said her client wanted to “shower her children with love”. According to the lawyer, her family was not well off and she wanted to buy things for herself and her family.
