SINGAPORE — After sustaining a workplace injury that put him out of work, Sarder Md Rajaul Islam was relying on food handouts to get by. A few months later, to relieve his financial pressures, he decided to create some counterfeit S$50 notes for his personal expenses.

The 21-year-old Bangladeshi, who was a construction worker at the time of his offence, was sentenced to three years' jail on Monday (July 24) after he pleaded guilty to two charges of counterfeiting currency notes.

Two other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The court heard that Sarder was issued a Special Pass by the Ministry of Manpower on Aug 25 last year after he suffered a work-related injury.

As he was not able to work due to the injury, he relied on free food that he received from the shelter and donations from others.

WHAT HAPPENED

About three months after he had stopped working, on around Dec 5 to 7 last year, Sarder decided to make S$50 counterfeit notes to spend on small value items so he could receive genuine currency as change.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Vincent Ong told the court that Sarder thought that this would be an easy way to make money despite his injury.

To carry out his plan, Sarder made sure no one was around, then used a printer that he had bought from a fellow Bangladeshi worker and made copies of both sides of a genuine S$50 note on two pieces of paper.

Sarder glued the back and front of the printed S$50 note together to form a counterfeit copy of the genuine note.

DPP Ong stated that Sarder estimated that he used a total of 10 pieces papers to produce the counterfeit currency notes with that bore the same serial number as the genuine note. Court documents did not state how many notes he made.

On the evening of Dec 8, Sarder took a counterfeit S$50 note to a shop in the dormitory's premises to buy a cup of sliced watermelon for S$1.50.

He handed over the S$50 note to fruit stall worker Tan Ying Joe, who noticed that the note "did not feel right".

Ms Tan handed the counterfeit note to her father-in-law to inspect.

The two concluded that the note was not genuine and reported the matter to the dormitory guard house.

Sarder was then detained and the police were called for assistance.

After their arrival, the police seized the note for inspection and found that it was missing several security features.

Sarder was arrested the same day.

The fake note was seized by the police along with the materials that he had used such as the printer.

They also seized four pieces of paper with only the front of the S$50 note printed of them, four pieces of paper with only the back of the S$50 note printed on them, and nine counterfeit S$50 notes with both the front and back printed on them.

DETERRENCE OVER REHABILITATION

In seeking a lighter sentence than the prosecution's proposed three years, lawyer Tan Su urged the court to consider two years and six months' jail as an appropriate sentence as her client is not a "hardened criminal".

Ms Tan said that rehabilitation should be the dominant sentencing consideration as Sarder had committed the offence in a "moment of folly" and desperation in the face of financial pressures.

She added that Sarder is also far away from his family and has let them down but with a reduction in sentence, he can be with his support system that will help him stay on the right path.

In delivering his sentence, District Judge Ronald Gwee said the offences are very serious and that a deterrent sentence has to be imposed to ensure that such offending does not take root.

The judge also stated that three years would be an appropriate sentence to deter like-minded offenders from thinking that counterfeit offences are not without serious consequences.

For each count of creating and using counterfeit currency, Sarder could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined.