So yes, in case you missed it, repaying by coins is now in vogue.

Last week, the infamous Mobile Air refunded a woman $1,010 in coins.

Yesterday, Lester Ong Boon Lin, allegedly the son of a famous nasi lemak franchise owner, upped the ante. He sent some 100kg worth of coins as repayment for his debt owed to Exotic Motors.

He had owed Exotic Motors more than $11,000 and was ordered by the court to pay another $8,000 for lawyer's fees. According to news reports, the coins even reeked of fish.

So they paid up, that's good. But hey, did they just give the finger to the Singapore Currency Act?

According to the Act,

(3) Coins issued by the Authority, if the coins have not been illegally dealt with, shall be legal tender up to their face value in Singapore as follows:

(a)

in the case of coins of a denomination exceeding 50 cents — for the payment of any amount;

(b)

in the case of coins of a denomination of 50 cents — for the payment of an amount not exceeding $10; and

(c)

in the case of coins of a denomination lower than 50 cents — for the payment of an amount not exceeding $2.

In other words, the smaller the denomination of coins, the lesser the payment amount you can settle in coins.

According to the car dealer, Sylvester Tang, most of the coins involved were 20 cents.

And looking at the top photo, coins of different denomination were used by Mobile Air.

So both the repayments are most likely not legal tender. How? Can someone do something about this?

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Top photo from SGAG Facebook page.

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