Jail for man who plotted with colleague to take electrical cable worth S$100,000 from IMH worksite, sell it for personal gain

SINGAPORE — An operations manager at an electrical engineering company misappropriated more than S$100,000 worth of electrical cable from a worksite and sold it to a third party for S$45,000.

For his actions, Palanivel Vijayasankar, a 43-year-old from India, was sentenced on Friday (Aug 23) to 18 months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal breach of trust.

His colleague, Andiyappan Palanivelu, also from India, is a co-accused in this case.

Court documents stated that the two men plotted to sell off excess electrical cable from a worksite.

Andiyappan, then an operations supervisor, left Singapore on April 24 and has yet to return.

He and Palanivel, an operations manager at the time, worked at Donjon, a company that installs, upgrades and replaces electrical equipment. 

As operations manager, Palanivel was tasked with supervising company projects and ensuring their successful execution. He was also authorised to procure raw materials for the projects that he supervised.

WHAT HAPPENED 

In 2021, Palanivel was tasked to supervise a project with the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). 

Andiyappan was tasked to assist him on the project and reported directly to the Palanivel. The worksite was located around 10 Buangkok View and involved electrical works on existing buildings there. 

A total of 5,312m of XLPE electrical cable was needed to complete the electrical works.

An XLPE cable is a strong, heat-resistant electrical wire used to carry power in underground or industrial areas safely.

From August to October last year, Palanivel arranged for the cable to be procured and delivered to the worksite.

Court documents stated that the total price of the cable was S$423,200.

On May 7, Donjon received an invoice for the project at IMH. The invoice stated that the total length of cable used at the worksite was 4,800m. 

The company’s deputy general noticed the discrepancy between the length of the electrical cable stated in the invoice and the amount procured by the man. 

The deputy general sent the company’s surveyor to the worksite to perform an inspection. 

The personnel found that the actual length used was only 4,020m and there was a difference of 1,292m between the length of cable that Palanivel had procured and the length of cable used.

The total value of the missing cable was S$102,931.93.

When confronted about the discrepancy, Palanivel initially claimed that the excess 1,292m of cable was already used or left unused at the worksite. 

However, on May 29, he contacted one of the company directors and confessed that he and his colleague had sold off the 1,292m for personal gain. 

A Donjon staff member made a police report the next day stating that Palanivel had misappropriated the cable. 

When questioned by the police, he admitted that he had discussed with Andiyappan how to deal with the excess electrical cable. 

Court documents stated that both of them had come up with the idea of selling the excess cable and splitting the sale proceeds in half. 

Andiyappan then sold the excess cable to a third-party buyer between February and April for around S$45,000. 

Andiyappan handed Palanivel around S$22,500 as his share of the sale proceeds. The court heard that Palanivel remitted the money back to India and cannot make restitution. 

Palanivel appeared in court in person and was represented by lawyer Manickavasagam RM Karuppiah Pillai from law firm Manicka & Co. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor Andrew Chia sought a sentence of between 17 and 20 months’ jail. 

He said that "the offence involved a certain level of premeditation", given that Palanivel had discussed with the co-accused how to deal with the excess cable before coming to an agreement. 

For criminal breach of trust, Palanivel could have been jailed for up to 15 years and fined.