SINGAPORE: A property agent who helped sell a condominium unit for an 80-year-old woman withdrew S$20,000 (US$15,000) from the proceeds for his own expenses.
Louiis Ignatius Tan Puay Meng, 58, pleaded guilty on Monday (Nov 27) to one count of dishonest misappropriation, with another two charges to be taken into consideration.
Tan had been set for trial, but chose to plead guilty on Monday.
The court heard that Tan was a real estate agent working for Savills Residential at the time.
In 2019, he helped an 80-year-old woman sell a unit in the Jupiter 18 condominium in Changi.
In November 2019, the victim received a total sum of about S$462,300 in two cheques for the sale of the property.
That same month, Tan and the victim set up a joint bank account to deposit the proceeds of the sale.
Tan was made a joint owner of the bank account for the express purpose to keep track of the money.
He assured the victim that he would “take care of her for the rest of her life” and that he would not use any of the money in the account for himself.
He also assured the victim that it was safe to set up the joint bank account and that any withdrawals would be done only via cheques signed by both of them.
Trusting Tan, the victim agreed to set up the account so Tan could help safekeep the money.
The pair deposited the full sum of S$462,318.21 at a DBS Treasures Centre on Nov 29, 2019.
However, between Dec 17 and Dec 25 in 2019, Tan withdrew a total of S$20,000 from the account without the victim’s knowledge or permission.
He made the transfers to his POSB account via Internet banking and spent the money on his personal expenditures.
The victim discovered in February 2020 through a bank statement that money was missing from the account and asked for more statements.
She withdrew the balance sum on Mar 2, 2020 and closed the joint account before lodging a police report.
Tan’s lawyer told the court that his client has had schizophrenia for a “very long time” and suffered a relapse lately.
He said he intended to apply for a psychiatric report for various purposes including to see if incarceration would be suitable for Tan.
He will return to court for mitigation and sentencing in January.