Question

if the thief apologises he will be paid on

Answer 1

I think it should be PAID OFF, I mean you can pay off a thief with maybe some money, nope I mean by letting him get away with the burglary maybe... Paying on means to pay someone for a work that they've done, and the thief here definitely has no significant contribution to any part of the work to society his confession of the crime may just reward him the escape from the punishment only


Anyways, I also sense that maybe you wanna switch this sentence into, say some different structure, well I have one in mind :

The thief won't be paid off until he apologizes


Well, this sentence, come to think of it practically, is lame, anyways, was just a wild guess as to what you wanna get done with your question


If the above doesn't provide you the apt answer , feel free to ask again in the comments down below


peace out !