Indian-origin banker gets 13 years in jail for forgery, cheating in Singapore
Singapore: An Indian-origin private banker was sentenced to 13 years jail on Thursday in Singapore, after he pleaded guilty to 20 forgery and cheating charges, and another 30 charges under the Computer Misuse Act for USD 10 million.
Another 503 similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing of Kale Jagdish Purushottam, who had siphoned USD 10 million from accounts of Barclays Bank clients between June 2010 and January 2013, reported The Straits Times.
In an attempt to pay back his former clients, Kale, 43, forged signatures to siphon off USD 10 million from his present clients.
He then made more unauthorised transactions to recover and replace the sum but ended up with extra losses of at least US$10 million instead.
Prior to joining the British bank in February 2010, Kale worked for UBS Singapore where he was the relationship manager for a company called Red Oak, which alleged that Kale had engaged in unauthorised foreign exchange transactions using the money in its account.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jean Ting said Kale agreed to pay Red Oak USD 14 million to avoid a legal case. However, Kale paid the firm with money from his Barclays clients' bank accounts.
Ting told the court that Kale passed off the forged documents by copying and pasting the genuine signatures of authorised signatories into his own computer file.
To cover up the shortfall in the bank accounts of his three clients, he forged more documents to move money between his other client accounts.
He made about 81 unauthorised fund transfers in this manner.
Kale also forged documents to create accounts in his clients' names that would allow him to take up loans. These loan sums were then transferred to Red Oak or used to cover up the other unauthorised fund transfers, said the deputy public prosecutor.
He raised 162 loans in the accounts maintained by six of his clients, according to the Singapore daily's report.
To cover up the loss of his clients', Kale tried to make money through unauthorised stock and foreign exchange transactions using his clients' accounts, she added.
"However, the unauthorised trades and other transactions caused further net losses of at least USD 10 million to Barclays," said DPP Ng.
On February 1, 2013, the Commercial Affairs Department received information that Kale might have forged his clients' signatures. He was also sacked in the same month.
Defence Counsel Anand Nalachandran told the court that Kale had not made the transfers or trades for personal financial benefit, but to satisfy what he thought was an obligation.
"Having just moved to Barclays, he was faced with allegations (from Red Oak), and instead of heeding advice, he rather rashly acted and then did these things to satisfy his obligation," said Anand.
However, District Judge Ong Hian Sun pointed out that there was a "grave breach of trust" on Kale's end.
According to court documents, Barclays managed to recover US 4 million after a settlement with Red Oak and Kale made restitution of USD 400,000 to the bank.
For each count of forgery for the purpose of cheating, Kale could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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Broken relationships don't automatically amount to abetment of suicide: SC
New Delhi (PTI): Broken relationships, while emotionally distressing, do not automatically amount to abetment of suicide in the absence of intention leading to the criminal offence, the Supreme Court on Friday said.
The observations came from a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Ujjal Bhuyan in a judgement, which overturned the conviction of one Kamaruddin Dastagir Sanadi by the Karnataka High Court for the offences of cheating and abetment of suicide under the IPC.
"This is a case of a broken relationship, not criminal conduct," the judgment said.
Sanadi was initially charged under Sections 417 (cheating), 306 (abetment of suicide), and 376 (rape) of the IPC.
While the trial court acquitted him of all the charges, the Karnataka High Court, on the state's appeal, convicted him of cheating and abetment of suicide, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and imposing Rs 25,000 in fine.
According to the FIR registered at the mother's instance, her 21-year-old daughter was in love with the accused for the past eight years and died by suicide in August, 2007, after he refused to keep his promise to marry.
Writing a 17-page judgement, Justice Mithal analysed the two dying declarations of the woman and noted that neither was there any allegation of a physical relationship between the couple nor there was any intentional act leading to the suicide.
The judgement therefore underlined broken relationships were emotionally distressing, but did not automatically amount to criminal offences.
"Even in cases where the victim dies by suicide, which may be as a result of cruelty meted out to her, the courts have always held that discord and differences in domestic life are quite common in society and that the commission of such an offence largely depends upon the mental state of the victim," said the apex court.
The court further said, "Surely, until and unless some guilty intention on the part of the accused is established, it is ordinarily not possible to convict him for an offence under Section 306 IPC.”
The judgement said there was no evidence to suggest that the man instigated or provoked the woman to die by suicide and underscored a mere refusal to marry, even after a long relationship, did not constitute abetment.
