Taxi Driver Returns US$900,000 Left Behind In His Cab

By Denis Foynes

Sia Ka Tian, 70, shocked his colleagues by placing a brown bag containing nearly a million dollars into the company’s lost and found box. He had found the money in the back of his cab after dropping off a Thai couple at a shopping center.

The panicked Thai couple reported their loss to the transport company ComfortDelGro and Sia was waiting for them with their money when they arrived. They gave Sia a cash reward to show their gratitude. His company also plans to give the 31 year cabbie veteran an award for his honest deed.

"When I saw the money, I thought, trouble is here. I was sure there was at least $200,000 in the bag," the Straits Times quoted the 31-year veteran in the taxi business as saying. "The money is unimportant to me. It doesn't belong to me, so how can I use it?" he explained to a newspaper.

"Finding one million dollars in cash is not an everyday affair and in fact, we wonder how many people would have possibly been tempted" to pocket it, company spokeswoman Tammy Tan told AFP. "We are immensely proud of him and are glad that the passengers recovered their money."

This isn’t the first time ComfortDelGro has experienced a crisis like this. In 2009, another taxi driver returned fives kilos (11 pounds) of gold bars worth Sg$377,000. Therefore, if you are extremely forgetful and need a taxi in Singapore, these may be the people to call.