Melbourne man pleads guilty to $79m home loan fraud
A Melbourne man has pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to defraud financial institutions after he was involved in a $79 million home loan fraud conspiracy.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigation into finance broking company Myra Home Loan Pty Ltd (which used to trade as Myra Financial Services) found Mohamed Radhi Maki Ebrahim Ahmed played a role at Myra in using false documents to support the loan applications.
The fraud involved creating false documents including payslips, bank statements, citizenship documents and statutory declarations supporting at least 350 loan applications to various financial institutions including the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, St George Bank, Bankwest, Bank of Adelaide, ANZ, Bank of Queensland, National Australia Bank and Suncorp.
Ahmed, 28, entered the guilty plea at Melbourne Magistrates Court on 10 February after he was arrested in December last year.
The case had a suppression order, which expired on 6 March.
Ahmed pleaded guilty to conspiring with Najam Shah and Aizaz Hassan to defraud financial institutions by submitting false documents on behalf of Myra clients between December 2009 and December 2011.
Ahmed has been bailed to appear at a sentencing hearing in the County Court at Melbourne on 16 April.
Shah and Hassan were arrested and charged in January, and they have since been bailed and will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 17 April for a committal mention.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting the case.
Recommended for you
It can be extremely hard to realise the gains from financial advice M&A, according to Peloton Partners’ Rob Jones, and more could be gained from firms looking inward at their own practice.
With platforms reporting their quarterly results, there is a clear divide in the adviser markets they are targeting, according to platform specialist Recep Peker, and which would be right for your clients.
The Federal Court has imposed a $10 million penalty on Macquarie Bank for failing to prevent and control unauthorised fee transactions by third parties including financial advisers.
A financial advice firm has seen a weekly decline of 10 advisers, with all moving to a new licensee, while Centrepoint Alliance continues its “growth story”.
