New Zealand student cleans up on 100,000 dollar Aussie toilet stash
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Wellington - A New Zealand student was told he can keep 81,597 Australian dollars (around 88,200 US dollars) he found in a toilet while working as a cleaner in Melbourne, the NZ Herald reported online Friday.
Chamindu Amarsinghe was tidying the ground floor toilets at Australian television Channel 9's headquarters in Melbourne nearly three years ago when he found a sanitary bin filled with 50 and 100dollar notes.
"There was too much to count," he was quoted as saying. "I thought someone was playing a prank on me, but when I touched the notes – all yellow and green - I realised it was real money.
"He called his supervisor and soon police and a plumber discovered more than 100,000 dollars in cash in the bathroom, some of it stuffed into the pipework.
Police failed to establish the origins of the stash, which was never claimed.
This week, Amarsinghe received a phone call to say the bulk of the money - the 81,597 Australian dollars which spilled on to the tiles in front of him - was his. The rest of the money will go to the Australian state.
"There's no reason why such honesty should go unrewarded," said Australian magistrate Michael Smith, deciding on the case.
Detective Senior Constable Daniel Thorne, who investigated the case, agreed.
"All the guys in the office felt the same. He's a struggling student who straight-up didn't even think of pocketing it," he was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun Thursday.
Amarsinghe said the windfall was a blessing and he planned to give some of it to his family, some to disabled people and some to a Buddhist temple in Australia.
"I'm really, really lucky. I'm not going to waste it," he said.
DPA
