A man who found more than $100,000 in cash in a Channel Nine toilet was this week granted the majority of the money by the Melbourne magistrates court.



Chamindu Amarsinghe came across the multiple $50 and $100 notes in a bin inside the disabled toilet cubicle when he was working as a cleaner at the network’s Docklands building in 2011. He alerted his supervisor.

Police subsequently found more than $100,000, including about $1,000 in the plumbing.

On Tuesday magistrate Michael Smith said there was “no reason why such honesty should go unrewarded” and granted Amarsinghe $81,597. The rest will go to the state, News Corp Australia reported.

Amarsinghe, who is studying IT in New Zealand, said he was “speechless” when he received the phone call giving him the news. “I’m really, really lucky. I’m not going to waste it,” he said.

Police involved in the case supported the magistrate’s decision, with the investigating detective, senior constable Daniel Thorne, telling the Herald Sun: “He’s a struggling student who straight-up didn’t even think of pocketing it.”

Police never solved the case of the missing money. Charges were dropped against one man, Emerald Nguyen, after he said he had no memory of procuring or abandoning the money as he was drug-affected, the Herald Sun reported.

