Unable to work as efficiently as he did after his girlfriend broke his heart, a Singaporean man resorted to deceit in order to obtain compassionate leave to nurse his wounded soul.
However, his misdeeds were eventually brought to light and he was subsequently slapped with a fine by the court.
SG man fakes grandpa’s death cert for compassionate leave
According to The Straits Times (ST), the man named Barath Gopal had worked as a security financing operation analyst from November 2022 to December 2023.
In November 2023, Barath’s heart got deeply wounded after his girlfriend cheated on him, causing him to be upset and unable to focus on his work.
Despite the fact that Barath had four annual leave days he could utilise, he instead decided to lie to his supervisor by telling him that his grandpa had died in his sleep.
He then asked for paid compassionate leave from Nov 8 to Nov 10, 2023, which was immediately granted.
When the supervisor asked Barath to produce his grandpa’s death certificate, he said he could only get it after his father returned from India.
Barath later asked a relative of his friend who had died in July 2023 for a copy of the deceased’s death certificate and told the relative that it was needed to explain him not turning up for work to attend the funeral.
Upon getting the death cert, Barath forged it using his grandfather’s details on his laptop and sent a photo of a section of it to his supervisor, where he purposely left out the bottom of the document that had a QR code to verify its authenticity.
Exposed and fined RM13,000
However, Barath’s web of lies began to unravel when his supervisor insisted that he sent the full version of the forged death certificate, which he eventually did so.
Knowing that his comeuppance was bound to happen, Barath resigned from his job in December. He later found himself in court pleading guilty to one count of forging a document purporting to be a death certificate with the intent to commit fraud on Wednesday (Feb 5).
Forging a death certificate carries a fine of up to $10,000 (approx. RM32,000), a jail term of up to 10 years, or both.
The prosecutor for the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, which issues death certificates, asked the court to impose a fine of $4,000 to $5,000 (approx. RM13,000 to RM16,000), saying the company lost almost $500 (approx. RM1,600) in associated income from Barath’s paid bereavement leave.
The court eventually slapped Barath with a S$4,000 fine for the offense.
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