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SINGAPORE – Despite having reason to believe that a $ 10,000 Singapore note in his possession was a fake, an Indonesian man went ahead to exchange it for smaller denominations.
Jusuf Nababan, 49, got another man to deposit the bill in a bank and then received $ 7,500 from him.
Nababan, who the court heard from is a pastor of a church in Batam, Indonesia, was sentenced on Friday (February 19) to prison for four years and two months. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with another person to use a counterfeit bill as a genuine one.
In October 2019, Nababan asked Yolanda, an Indonesian, for help in finding a Singaporean to change the counterfeit note to smaller denominations.
He told the 47-year-old woman, who was in a relationship with him at the time, that he would reward the Singaporean with a “commission.”
Subsequently, Yolanda contacted Saw Eng Kiat, 62, who agreed to help.
The trio met on October 11, 2019, where Nababan passed the false note to Saw.
Court documents claim that Saw was suspicious of the note, as he casually handed it over despite its alleged high value.
But he decided to help Nababan in exchange for the promised “commission”, as he was facing financial problems at the time.
So Saw asked for the value of the bill at two antique stores and was told it was worthless.
He told Nababan and Yolanda that the stores would not accept the bill and suggested that they try to exchange it at a bank.
The trio then went to the mall at Harbourfront Center, where Saw handed the note to a cashier at the DBS branch there.
Court documents state that the cashier did not know that the counting machine in which he placed the note was not equipped with a counterfeit detector.
By accepting the note, he deposited $ 10,000 into Saw’s bank account.
The three individuals then divided the money, and Saw kept $ 1,500.
Nababan received $ 7,500 in cash, while Yolanda received the remainder.
Court documents claim that Nababan used the money to gamble at a casino.
The offense came to light after a DBS staff member made a police report on October 17, 2019.
For his role in the incident, Saw was jailed for four years and two months in March last year.
The Straits Times understands that no further action was taken against Yolanda.
Nababan’s sentence dates back to November 9, 2019, when he was placed in preventive detention.
For his crime, he could have been imprisoned for up to 20 years and fined.
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