Narmatha Thambipillay: Chatswood mother scammed bank of $26K in fraudulent cheques blames her ex
A Chatswood mother who posed as a recruiter and banked $26,000 through fraudulent cheques has blamed her “mastermind” ex-boyfriend. But the magistrate didn’t react in her favour.
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A mother who posed as a recruiter and banked fraudulent cheques to buy herself a new car has blamed it on her “mastermind” ex-boyfriend, but the magistrate wasn’t buying her pity story.
Narmatha Dhanuja Thambipillay, 39, of Chatswood was sentenced at Hornsby Local Court on September 17 after pleading guilty to a charge of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception between May 3, 2018 and May 28, 2018 at Chatswood for the amount of $26,000.
According to police facts tendered in court, her ex-boyfriend Roy Bobbykanth Yogeswaran registered a business and created an account with Bank of Sydney Ltd which was empty.
He was supplied a cheque book which he used to fill out and sign 28 cheques valued at more than $394,345, which were “deposited into various accounts at several different locations” as part of a larger scam, police facts state.
Court documents reveal “Yogeswaran’s intention was to deceive the bank into clearing the funds, and to immediately withdraw any cleared funds”
On May 23, 2018 he and his girlfriend at the time, Thambipillay, went to Suncorp Metway in Chatswood and requested to open two accounts in her name.
Police facts state she deposited two cheques worth $29,300 from his new business account and the cheques cleared “due to a processing error”.
Soon after Thambipillay withdrew the funds and the bank realised the cheques had been “dishonoured”, with $26,000 overdrawn.
A Suncorp investigator contacted Thambipillay and she told him she was a recruitment consultant and had received the cheques after successfully placing clients in positions but that the cheques had bounced and by that time she’d already bought a new car, police facts state.
She told the investigator she would get the recruitment company to deposit cash or a new cheque into the account, however, it never happened.
Suncorp staff attempted to contact her again but her phone was disconnected and the matter was passed to police.
During an interview with the cops, she told them a different story, stating she used $3500 of the funds to repay an outstanding invoice to Seek.com.au “but the rest was taken by Yogeswaran ad used to repay debts he had”.
During court proceedings today her lawyer Sal Sapupo said the co-accused was the “principle offender” and not his client.
“She’s not the principal orchestrator, she might have assisted but this is only one of many cheques, well two but the total sum is $26,000. She took $4,000. She’s a recruitment consultant, she paid the funds to Seek,” Mr Sapupo said.
“She was part of something bigger. She was with the fellow for five years, it was an abusive relationship, she’s no longer with the co-accused and his matter is still ongoing.”
In response magistrate Louise McManus said she did not believe Thambipillay was “naive” or an “innocent pawn”.
“We now know it’s her partner and she’s purchased a car. It’s difficult for you to stand up and say she is a consultant because that was part of the lies she was giving,” Magistrate McManus said.
Mr Sapupo urged her to consider all sentencing options.
“She entered into some enterprise with this person. While she may have assisted him, she wasn’t the mastermind in the scheme of getting the money out,” he said.
“She accepts she has to pay back the money but at the moment she’s on Job Seeker. The report provides a number of sentencing options.”
Magistrate Mcmanus said she had to take what his client says “with a grain of salt” and said she wasn’t “acknowledging her offending”.
“She was a principal offender in this matter, she opens the account, deposits the cheques and withdraws the $26,000.
“I don’t know how much she got, the story changes. She eventually says she gets $3000 then $4000. I can’t trust her in anything she says.”
Thambipillay was convicted and received an Intensive Corrections Order of 10 months with supervision by community corrections.
She was also ordered to repay Suncorp the $26,000.