Undertaker jailed eight months for misappropriating $17,100

SINGAPORE - A man who misappropriated $17,100 while employed as an undertaker was jailed for eight months on Friday (Jan 12).

Karupaya Silvakumar, 62, pleaded guilty to criminal breach of trust. He had pocketed a sum of $17,100 in cash which had been paid to Hindu Casket for funeral services conducted between April 17 and May 9, 2017.

Hindu Casket is a subsidiary company of Direct Funeral Services (DFS) at Lavender Street.

The court heard that Karupaya would organise Hindu funeral services for various customers who paid him in cash or by cheque. He would issue the customer an invoice and hand over the payment to DFS' office.

On four occasions between April 17 and May 9 last year, he was entrusted with cash payments amounting to $17,100, which he pocketed.

On May 13 or 14, he stopped reporting for work. On May 19, DFS discovered that it had not received payments for four invoices that corresponded to jobs done by Karupaya.

When confronted on May 25, Karupaya admitted to misappropriating the money. DFS also offered him a repayment plan, under which he would give $1,000 of his monthly salary to DFS as repayment for the misappropriated sum, but he did not agree.

He could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined for criminal breach of trust as a servant.

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