An Indian-origin man in Singapore has been sentenced to nine months’ jail for posing as a prison officer and sending e-mails to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and other public officials in a bid to seek help over his previous convictions.
Prakash Paramasivam, 25, pleaded guilty to three counts of pretending to be a public servant and admitted to a separate charge of using a forged medical certificate as genuine. He was sentenced on February 16, reported The Strait Times.
According to court documents, Prakash sent an e-mail to the secretariat of the Singapore parliament on February 16, 2024, claiming he had been “falsely charged” in earlier cases. Posing as a staff member of the Singapore prison service, he wrote: “Those offences were done by his ex-(schoolmates), teachers from Metta School located (in Simei)... My ex-inmate has... evidence... that he’s innocent.”
Deputy public prosecutor Ernest Chua said Prakash misrepresented himself to increase his chances of obtaining assistance. Two days later, he again posed as the prison officer in an e-mail to then national development minister Desmond Lee, claiming his mother was a victim of domestic abuse and needed help.
On February 24, 2024, he sent another e-mail to President Tharman stating: “My ex-inmate (had) been charged falsely by the police and the State Court... (The) judge... sentenced wrongfully without notice and unfair of his defence.” He was arrested four days later.
The prosecution said that between 2018 and 2023, Prakash had been in and out of jail for offences including criminal intimidation by anonymous communication.
After being released on bail on February 29, 2024, he reoffended in July 2025. He obtained a medical certificate stating he was unfit for duties for two days, though it was “not valid for absence from court attendance”. He later edited it to state he was “unfit to attend court”, and his mother submitted the forged document to a district court. The offence came to light after police verified the certificate with the doctor.
Calling for a deterrent sentence, the prosecutor told the court: “The accused has... shown himself to be a serial and habitual offender with a marked proclivity towards sending false messages to third parties.”
