SINGAPORE — An unemployed man who lied to a woman that he could arrange for a police officer to dispose of the evidence against her husband was sentenced to four weeks’ jail today (Oct 29).

Gunaseelan James, 48, was also ordered to pay a penalty of S$3,200, which was the amount he had corruptly obtained from the woman, Ms Azlina Mohamed.

In late July 2011, James found out that his friend, Shaikh Salman Anwar Baladaram, was in trouble with the law for cheating offences.

Shaikh Salman’s wife, Ms Azlina Mohamed, had contacted the accused, who then called a mutual friend, Mr Amarjeet Singh Surain Singh.

The mutual friend then set up a meeting with a retired police officer, Mr Karmjit Singh Krata Singh, who used to be from Ang Mo Kio Police Division, to help Shaikh Salman.

The accused contacted Ms Azlina and told her that the retired officer knew someone currently working in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and could help in disposing the evidence in her husband’s case. The evidence in this case was credit cards.

James convinced a worried Ms Azlina that her husband’s case is grave and asked her to give him S$3,200.

He told her S$3,000 was meant for the current CID officer while S$200 was for the retired police officer.

Ms Azlina passed the money to James.

As it turned out, the accused was chased by his friend, Louis Philip Gnanapragasam for repayment of a S$6,194 (US$5,000) loan.

The loan has been extended to Shaikh Salman’s brother and the accused was the guarantor, but it had not been paid for three months.

So James devised this elaborate plan to get money from Ms Azlina to repay the loan.

During investigations, James admitted that the current CID officer was fictitious. He also admitted that no bribes were ever made to secure his friend’s release.

So far, no action has been taken against the mutual friend or the retired officer.

Shaikh is said to have claimed trial to the charges and is awaiting the verdict. CHANNEL NEWSASIA