A FORMER fitness trainer has been charged with using fake $1,000
notes in what is believed to be Singapore's first such case.
Mahathir Ramli, 27, is said to have used six of the notes to buy
an iPhone 4, three iPads and a MacBook Pro laptop.
He bought them in three separate deals, according to charges
that were brought up for mention on Thursday in a district court.
The first took place in March, when he met three people separately
in Hougang and Guillemard Road early one morning, giving them three
$1,000 notes.
Mahathir is also alleged to have paid another victim for
electronic gadgets using two of the fake notes in April at the open
carpark at Newton Food Centre.
He used another of the bills to buy a MacBook in Ang Mo Kio the
following month.
Two more were found in his possession in June. A police
investigation is expected to show how the forged notes were
made.
Mahathir, who is now jobless, is also accused of
misappropriating an iPhone 4 belonging to a victim in Hougang. And
he was found with an ez-link card that was not his, plus a forged
identity card, the court heard.
If convicted of the 11 charges, he could be jailed for up to 20
years and fined. He was released on $50,000 bail, and will be back
in court next month.
(Taken from The Straits Times, Saturday, November 19 2011, Page
B6)
