The high-end watch retailer, through its lawyer Chia Foon Yeow of Loo and Partners, was awarded the judgment on Tuesday against the 35-year-old.

Cortina had sued Ee for at least $13.3 million in February, when he went on the run after pulling off a Christmas Day heist at the Raffles City Shopping Centre outlet where he worked.

The company has since recovered about $4.6 million from the 230 watches he turned in when he gave himself up in Bangkok last month.

While he was hiding in Thailand, the writ for the suit was advertised in The Straits Times on Feb 13. That same day, the writ was also posted on the front door of his flat in Bukit Merah, which he shared with his parents and a son from a previous marriage.

Since he failed to enter an appearance within eight days of that, Cortina became entitled to apply for a default judgment.

On his part, he can now apply to the court for leave to set aside the default judgment if he has good grounds.

But he is now facing charges tied to his alleged pocketing of 412 watches and cash, totalling $9.2 million.

Seven watches belonged to customers, believed to be foreigners.

As Ee could not rustle up the $1.5 million bail, he will stay in remand until the pre-trial conference at the end of this month.

With the default judgement, Cortina may choose to take action to claim the money from Ee, including perhaps making him a bankrupt.