A Singaporean man got fined thousands of dollars for forging his grandfather’s death certificate so he could get paid leave from his workplace.
Earlier this month, 29-year-old Barath Gopal was fined $4,000 after pleading guilty to forging a relative’s death certificate with the intention to commit fraud.
In November 2023, while working as a security financing operation analyst, Gopal learned that his then-girlfriend had cheated on him and he was allegedly so devastated that he couldn’t focus on his job.
But instead of applying for one of the several days of annual leave offered by his employer, the Singaporean asked for paid compassionate leave from Nov 8 to Nov 10, claiming that his grandfather in India had died in his sleep.
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His request was granted, but when his supervisor asked for his grandparent’s death certificate, things got complicated.
To stall for time, Gopal told his supervisor that he could only send them the death certificate after his father returned from India, meanwhile, he contacted a relative of his friend who had died in July 2023, claiming that he needed a copy of the death certificate to justify his time off from work to attend the funeral.
He then proceeded to forge the document for his grandfather on his laptop, and sent a photo of it to his supervisor, conveniently leaving out the bottom of the certificate, which had a QR code for verifying its authenticity.
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Unfortunately for Barath, his supervisor wasn’t satisfied and asked for a copy of the entire document. At the insistence of his superiors, Barath Gopal sent the entire document but resigned from his job in December 2023, knowing that his lie would easily be discovered.
In Singapore, for forging a death certificate, an offender can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to 10 years, or both, so Gopal can consider himself lucky that he only got a $4,000 fine for his offense.
Prosecutors sought a fine of between $4,000 and $5,000, noting that his employer lost $500 for his paid leave.
