A Croydon accountant who has been imprisoned in Myanmar for more than a year without charge has described his living conditions as “hell on earth”.

Niranjan Rasalingam, of Cherry Orchard Road, was arrested in December 2014 on suspicion of using cloned bank cards to steal more than 25.2 million kyats (£13,744) in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar.

But in an interview with The Guardian, conducted through his legal team and published on Monday, Mr Rasalingam denied wrongdoing and said he had yet be charged.

Authorities in Myanmar had forced him to appear at a court every two weeks to keep him in jail, Mr Rasalingam said, adding: “Life in Insein prison is hell on earth – the conditions, the corruption and the danger.”

Gavin Barwell, Mr Rasalingam’s constituency MP for Croydon Central, wrote to a Foreign Office minister last year to highlight the case.

Mr Rasalingam told The Guardian he had been in Myanmar working for a travel website and had been looking to set up an office in the country.

Arrested alongside three Indian nationals accused of being co-conspirators in the bank card scheme, Mr Rasalingam said he knew only one of the men through a family friend. 

He claimed that when arrested he was denied food for three days and denied contact with British consulate.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it had raised the case with authorities in Myanmar but “cannot directly intervene in the judicial process of another country”.

Do you know Mr Rasalingam? Call the newsdesk on 020 8722 6388 or email daniel.omahony@newsquest.co.uk