Singapore, September 13: A Singapore court has rejected an Indian-origin CEO’s bid to recover SGD 468,000 (over Rs 3.5 crore) that he claimed he had spent on his former girlfriend as loans, ruling that most of the money was given as gifts.
Chander Agarwal, CEO of a Mumbai-listed company, had sued to recover expenses he incurred during his relationship, including overseas trips, a feng shui consultation for his former girlfriend’s flat and a Stanford-NUS executive programme, according to The Straits Times.
Agarwal and the woman met on a flight in 2019 and later connected on social media. Their relationship began in September 2022. Even before they started dating, Agarwal had given her several expensive gifts without expecting repayment.
He also arranged a limousine for her after a dinner, purchased luxury items and paid most of the expenses during a European trip they took together.
The relationship ended in December 2023 after Agarwal suspected her of being unfaithful. He filed the lawsuit in March 2024, arguing that the money he had spent should be repaid as loans.
In a written judgment issued on September 9, Senior Judge Lee Seiu Kin ruled that most of the payments were gifts that Agarwal had voluntarily given his former girlfriend.
The judge said the evidence showed Agarwal had showered the woman with expensive gifts while he was attracted to her, but became embittered after the relationship ended badly and sought to make her pay for them.
During cross-examination, Agarwal said that once the relationship began, “everything became a loan, everything was transactional”, whereas before that, it was not.
He further argued that once his former girlfriend accepted his offers to spend money, the expenses automatically became loans.
The judge rejected that position, describing it as contrary to common sense and unsustainable.
