A Singapore court rejected the claim of a businessman who, after breaking up with his lover, tried to return 468 thousand Singapore dollars (about 369 thousand US dollars), which he spent on gifts, trips and other expenses, wrote BBC News.
The judge concluded that the man voluntarily spent money on the woman and did not expect to get it back.
Chander Agarwal, the head of the logistics company, met former flight attendant Felicia Lee in 2019, during a flight. The romantic relationship between them started in September 2022 and continued until December 2023. After the split, Agarwal suspected Lee of infidelity and filed a lawsuit against him in March 2024.
The businessman claimed that during the relationship, the woman repeatedly asked him for interest-free loans. In total, he demanded to return 468 thousand Singapore dollars. That amount included about $206,000 in credit card expenses, $129,000 in foreign travel, $17,000 in feng shui services for her apartment, and another $20,000 spent on her life insurance.
Lee said that it was not about loans, but gifts that the man gave her out of love and attachment. Singapore Supreme Court Judge Lee Siu Kin agreed with this version.
According to her, Agarwal was in the habit of giving Lee expensive gifts even before the beginning of their romantic relationship. Moreover, he made it clear many times that he does not expect the money to be returned. In correspondence, the woman expressed her admiration for expensive gifts, and sometimes, on the contrary, she clearly did not want to accept them.
Additionally, Agarwal failed to provide documentary evidence that Lee had actually requested loans or acknowledged the existence of the debt. The judge noted that the evidence rather indicates that the businessman, being in love, "showered" his wife with expensive gifts.
"Unfortunately, when their relationship ended on an unpleasant note, the plaintiff was filled with malice and decided to extort the price from her," the decision said.
The judge also noted the significant difference in the financial situation of the former partners. Agarwal was a man of "ability and expensive taste", while Lee did not belong to the same circle.
At the end of the decision, the judge quoted the English playwright William Congreve, who wrote that there is no hatred stronger than love turned into rage, and added that such feelings "are not the exclusive privilege of either sex."
This is not the first unusual legal dispute to arise after a failed relationship in Singapore. In 2023, a man filed two lawsuits totaling more than S$3 million against a woman after she rejected his romantic advances. The courts rejected those demands.
