SINGAPORE, April 12 — She “died” in an accident in Peshawar, Pakistan on July 5 last year.
Later that month, her son allegedly submitted forged documents to four insurers claiming nearly S$3.7 million (RM11.2 million) under seven insurance policies.
One of the insurers, AXA, detected irregularities in documents relating to Talat Farman’s purported death and lodged a police report on Nov 13 last year.
Officers from the Commercial Affairs Department arrested Talat’s son eight days later, and she was also subsequently arrested.
Talat, 53, and her son Abraham Rock, 35, were charged in court today for faking her death in an attempt to obtain more than S$3.7 million in insurance and Central Provident Fund claims.
Talat faces five charges of conspiring to cheat.
Rock’s 11 charges include conspiring to cheat and giving false information to an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer. He was also charged with making a false statutory declaration and fabricating evidence to be used in a judicial proceeding.
The Singaporean duo allegedly conspired with at least three other people — Sheikh Muhammad Kamran, Abdul Rahman Sheikh Muhammad Kamran and Sheikh Jawad Ahmed Reza. No further details on the three men were mentioned in court documents.
Copy of burial plate invoice submitted to insurer
The forged documents included a police report from the Bhana Mari police station in Peshawar, as well as a medical report and death certificate from Pakistan’s Lady Reading Hospital. There was even a copy of an invoice for a marble plate for Talat’s “burial”.
Rock submitted claims under two travel insurance policies, two personal accident policies and three life insurance policies including the Dependents’ Protection Scheme.
The three largest claims, each worth S$1 million, were for MSIG Insurance’s TravelEasy insurance policy, and for Great Eastern’s Great Protector personal accident policy and Prestige Term Plus life insurance policy.
According to court documents and the police, only their claims of S$49,000 from NTUC Income’s Dependents’ Protection Scheme and S$80,331 from Talat’s Central Provident Fund account were paid out by the time AXA lodged its police report.
Mother and son will return to court on May 10 and are out on bail of S$15,000 each.
If convicted, each faces up to 10 years’ jail and a fine for conspiracy to cheat.
Rock could be jailed for up to seven years and fined, if convicted of making a false statutory declaration or providing false evidence.
For giving false information to a public servant, he could be jailed for up to a year and fined up to S$5,000 if convicted.
The police said it worked closely with insurers on this case.
“In our continuous effort to combat fraud, it is vital for all insurers to be proactive in detecting and reporting suspicious cases to the authorities,” added the police. — TODAY
