SINGAPORE: Jilted in love, an analyst at a financial services firm found himself unable to work. He ended up in court where he was slapped with a $4,000 fine after he pleaded guilty to forgery under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act.
Barath Gopal, 29, a Singapore citizen, was unable to work after learning that his girlfriend had been unfaithful. So he took leave — with a lie.
He told his supervisor that his grandfather had died in his sleep. He asked for, and was given, three days of paid compassionate leave from Nov 8 to 10 in 2023.
The court learned that he could have taken more than four days of annual leave. Instead, he applied for compassionate leave. CNA noted that the company lost $500 due to having paid Barath for the three days of his leave.
Barath’s problems began when he was asked later in November for a copy of his grandfather’s death certificate by his supervisor as a supporting document for his leave application. He then stalled, saying that he was unable to submit this to the company until his father returned from India on Nov 27, 2023.
His supervisor told him on Dec 7 that Barath needed to hand in the death certificate of his grandfather by the following day.
Barath then approached the stepmother of a friend who had died a few months earlier and asked for a copy of his death certificate. He explained that he needed it as justification for having taken time off from work to attend his friend’s funeral, reported The Straits Times.
When the stepmother emailed him a soft copy of the death certificate, he altered the data on it by using a PDF editing tool. Barath changed the certificate number, name, and date of death, also writing that the cause of death had been cardiorespiratory failure, according to a report in CNA.
When he handed in the altered death certificate on Dec 11, he intentionally removed the QR code at the bottom of the document. His team leader, however, asked for the certificate in full so that the document could be verified. Barath then submitted it.
Aware that the forgery of the document was about to be found out by his employer, Barath quit his position at the firm. CNA added that he resigned before the company could verify the document with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.
For the offence of forging a death, birth, or stillbirth certificate, Barath could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to $10,000, or both jailed and fined. /TISG
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