Man jailed in 2019 for making fake banknotes gets another 5 years for repeating offence, using same templates

SINGAPORE — Undeterred by serving jail time for making counterfeit banknotes, Muhammad Farhan Farus committed the same offence again a couple of years later, using the same templates for making the fake notes that he had stored on a laptop seized by police over the earlier offence and eventually returned to him.

Farhan, 28, was jailed for another five years on Thursday (Sept 28) after pleading guilty to three charges: Forging banknotes, using counterfeit banknotes as genuine money and possessing an instrument used to forge money. Two other charges were taken into consideration.

In committing his offences, Farhan enlisted the help of an acquaintance, 45-year-old Mahadi Ab Latif, whom he had met in Pertapis Home, a centre which provides treatment and rehabilitative services to substance abusers. 

The two had printed out the fake money at an empty warehouse in Changi South. 

HOW IT STARTED 

Farhan was sentenced in 2019 to three years' jail over a similar counterfeit money scheme committed in 2018. 

He used the fake money to buy goods on Carousell and pay sex workers, The Straits Times reported.

Then, sometime before June 28 last year, Farhan collected his items that were seized by the police as case exhibits for his previous counterfeiting offence.

Among the items was his Toshiba laptop, where his previous pictures of fake banknotes and templates were stored.

Upon seeing them, Farhan decided to use them to print fake banknotes again, in order to purchase contraband cigarettes. 

On the same day, Farhan told Mahadi of his plans. He told Farhan that he also wanted some of the fake banknotes for his own use. 

After learning that Farhan had a printer and laptop to print them but lacked a suitable location to do so, Mahadi suggested basing their operations in an empty warehouse at 43 Changi South Ave 2. 

Mahadi had discovered the premises while doing delivery jobs. 

Between June and July, the duo then printed numerous fake S$100 bills, with Farhan providing the printer, laptop, papers as well as printer ink and Mahadi cutting the printed notes with a penknife at the warehouse. 

According to court documents, a total of 185 S$100 counterfeit notes were seized by the police. 

Farhan also used some of these bills to pay for a purchase he made from one Ms Alvina Saw. 

Court documents did not state how Farhan knew her, or his relationship with her.

He had bought several products including glass water pipes from Ms Saw’s brother-in-law and had arranged to meet the woman on July 2, 2021 to collect the products. 

It was only after he handed over the cash, which consisted of eight pieces of counterfeit S$100 notes, and drove off that Ms Saw realised the money was fake. 

Addressing Farhan in court on Thursday, District Judge Kow Keng Siong said: “I note your intent to reintegrate with society but I would also like you to bear in mind that you have to face the consequences of your actions.” 

For possessing an instrument with the purpose of using it to forge banknotes, Farhan could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined. 

For using forged banknotes as genuine money, Farhan could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined. 

For forging banknotes, Farhan could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined. 

Mahadi was sentenced to six years and nine months' jail, and three strokes of the cane in July 2022 for counterfeiting money and drug-related offences. Of the total, 21 months was for the counterfeiting offences.