ST : Property agent jailed for cheating and forgery

15 Feb 2011,
Property agent jailed for cheating and forgery
By Khushwant Singh

BETWEEN November 2007 and February last year, property agent Anika Priyadharshini cheated clients and credit companies of nearly $292,000.

Priyadharshini, 38, was jailed 41/2 years by a district court yesterday.

The mother of three, who is twice divorced, pleaded guilty to 23 charges. The judge took into consideration 44 other charges when passing sentence.

She was an agent with DTZ Debenham Tie Leung when she met Ms Lohambal Doraisamy, 49, in a temple in late 2008.

In December that year, Priyadharshini claimed that she had been able to convince a seller of a Bukit Panjang flat to lower his asking price by $20,000.

She then pocketed the $40,000 that Ms Doraisamy handed over to her as a deposit to buy the unit.

A month later, she convinced Ms Doraisamy to hand over $14,390 for stamp duties.

During that period, the agent also led a computer programmer to believe that she had a flat to rent out. She then disappeared with the $4,410 he gave her as the rental and security deposit.

She also forged court papers to state that she would receive the full proceeds from the sale of her matrimonial flat after her divorce proceedings. This allowed her to get a $15,000 loan from a licensed moneylender in High Street Plaza.

Priyadharshini, a bankrupt, also lied on the loan application form about her bankruptcy status.

The court heard that she used her boyfriend's particulars to apply for credit cards and used these for fraudulent purchases amounting to $9,680.

She also used the identity cards of her clients to subscribe to cellphone plans.

Police recovered only $163,000 from her. Defence counsel Sunil Sudheesan said that she would be getting $57,000 from the sale of a flat and this would be used to pay the credit companies.

For each cheating offence, she could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to $10,000.