Cleaner who found £50,000 in toilet bin receives cash reward for 'honesty'

28 February 2023, 13:22

By Alice Dear

The cleaner has been rewarded £40,000 of the mysterious cash for informing the authorities straight away.

A cleaner who found £50,000 in a toilet bin has been given a cash reward for his honesty.

Chamindu Amarsinghe, who was a struggling student at the time, stumbled across the cash when he was cleaning a ground-floor bathroom at a TV company in Melbourne.

As soon as he saw the money sticking out of the bin, he called his supervisors who informed the authorities.

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Speaking to the Herald Sun, Chamindu said: "There was too much to count — 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.”

The cleaner called his supervisor as soon as he found the money in the toilet bin [Stock Image]. Picture: Getty

The police arrived and took the money away to investigate, not before finding another £935 hidden in the bathroom pipes.

Speaking about the moment he found the money, Chamindu said: "I just thought: 'That's not my money, so I can't take it away. I don't know what the hell this money is doing here’.

"Someone could have put it there and planned to come back for it. I didn't want them to come back for it and find it gone and them come after me."

Chamindu Amarsinghe said he thought someone was playing a prank on him when he found the money [Stock Image]. Picture: Getty

Three years after the money was found, and since it has not been claimed, the Melbourne magistrate Michael Smith decided to give around £40,000 of the cash to Chamindu.

Smith explained his decision by saying: "There’s no reason why such honesty should go unrewarded.”

The rest of the money was given to the state.

Chamindu called the money a "blessing" before adding: "I just want to spend my life in a normal way, find a job in IT and carry out that dream."

He also shared that he will be donating some of the money to help disabled people as well as sending some to the Buddhist Temple in Berwick in Melbourne.