by Elena Chong
THREE men who were involved in using counterfeit currencies as
genuine were jailed on Friday.
The highest sentence of eight years was imposed on Narindran
Sangara Banoi, 31, unemployed, who had made the Singapore currency
notes and passed them to his accomplices. He had pleaded guilty to
15 of 55 charges.
Jegathesan Subramaniam, 31, who had 10 charges, was jailed three
years for conspiring with Narindran in August 2010 on two
occasions, to use a fake $50 note to pay for cab fares.
A third man, Ramer Rethina Thevar Ramanathan, 42, was given two
years and three months after pleading guilty to using fake $50
notes to pay for a bar of chocolate and a pair of sunglasses. A
fourth man, Segar Ramiah, 37, had his plea rejected earlier. A
pre-trial conference date is set for Feb 24.
The court heard that between February and September 2010,
Narindran was facing financial difficulties and decided to scan and
print Singapore currency notes in denominations of $2, $10 and $50,
using his colour printer. He told Jegathesan, Ramer and his
relative Segar, about the fake currency notes.
He would either use them himself, or together with one of the
accomplices. He also gave some fake notes to the accomplices for
their use. They could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined
on each charge.