In 2007, an Indonesian woman and her eldest son opened a joint bank account in Singapore and deposited nearly US$850,000 (S$1.2 million) into it. The money was subsequently spread over seven accounts held jointly by both.
Now, Madam Lilyana Alwi, 86, is suing her son, 62-year-old Singaporean photographer John Arifin, for allegedly misappropriating at least $500,000 from the accounts.
She contends that all the money in the accounts belongs to her, while her son says the money was meant to be shared between them.
Madam Lilyana wants the court to allow her to withdraw the remaining money in the accounts, which were frozen by the banks in 2014 due to contradictory instructions given by the two account-holders. She wants Mr Arifin to account for the sums he allegedly misappropriated, so that she can ascertain how much is to be paid to her. She also wants him to return pieces of jewellery she had allegedly given to him for safekeeping.
Mr Arifin has counterclaimed, asserting that he is entitled to half the money and all the withdrawals were joint decisions made with his mother. As for the jewellery, these had been given to his wife and daughters over the years, he said.
A four-day hearing into the suit started on Tuesday.
The court heard that the initial deposit of US$849,581.36 came from the sales proceeds of an Indonesian property owned by Madam Lilyana's husband, businessman Hasan Arifin, who died in 2010.
Madam Lilyana, represented by Senior Counsel Deborah Barker of Withers Khattarwong, said that the money was a gift from her husband. She said the couple decided to deposit the money in Singapore and Mr John Arifin advised her to open a joint account so that he could help her manage the funds.
In 2014, she discovered that her son had misappropriated the money over the years, she said. This included $335,000 that was withdrawn in 2008 after he allegedly misrepresented to her that he wanted to set up a fund for her grandchildren. Another $60,000 was withdrawn in January 2014, based on his alleged misrepresentations that it was to repay debts owed to him and his wife by his father.
Mr John Arifin, represented by Senior Counsel N. Sreenivasan of Straits Law Practice, said his late father told him that the money was meant for both mother and son. He said the withdrawals were to reimburse him for various payments he had made on behalf of his father over the years, including medical insurance and travel expenses. The move to seek reimbursement followed concerns that his two younger brothers were asking their mother for money, he said.
In 2013, Madam Lilyana said she wanted to use all the money in the accounts to buy a warehouse for her second son, Peter. Mr John Arifin said his younger brothers continued to question him about the assets and three family meetings failed to resolve the unhappiness.
In 2016, Madam Lilyana won a summary judgment to withdraw half of the remaining funds, after her son admitted that at least half of the money was hers.
As of early this year, about $152,000 remains in the accounts.
