Former NAB employee charged with attempted $21 million fraud
A former employee of the National Australia Bank in Sydney has been charged with an attempted fraud of more than $21 million against the financial institution.
The 38-year-old woman is one of two people charged as part of an investigation into what police allege was a criminal syndicate that used fraudulent bank deposit guarantees to buy properties across NSW for an inflated commission.
A NAB employee has been charged with defrauding the bank more than $21.6 million.Credit:James Elsby
One member of the syndicate "preyed on international students", police allege, setting up accounts in their names to be used for money laundering.
"Not only has this group attempted to steal money from hard-working Australians through fraudulent deposits, one of these individuals also preyed on international students by promising to help them obtain financial loans to fund their tuition," Detective Superintendent Linda Howlett, commander of the Financial Crimes Squad, said.
"After using these students' personal identification information to create new accounts, they were then allegedly used for money laundering – funnelling millions of dollars to avoid detection by law enforcement."
The woman was arrested at Newtown police station last Thursday following extensive police inquiries. She has since been dismissed by NAB.
She was charged with nine offences including five counts of accessory before the fact to dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception (attempting serious offence), two counts of conspiring to cheat and defraud, dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity.
She was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on November 27. Police will allege she attempted to defraud the bank of more than $21.6 million.
A 47-year-old man who was not an NAB employee was arrested and charged last month after police executed a search warrant at a home in Fairfield East, where they seized electronic devices and documentation, including internal NAB vouchers.
He was charged with 11 offences including dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, four counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception (attempting serious offence), participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity and five counts of dealing with identity information to commit an indictable offence.
He was granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear at the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday. Police will allege he attempted to defraud NAB of more than $16.8 million.
The investigation into the alleged syndicate began in February, when NAB's systems detected unusual activity.
"NAB has zero tolerance for any criminal activity and any employee who knowingly engages in such conduct will be dismissed. Where we identify apparent criminal conduct, we immediately refer matters to the police," NAB’s executive group investigations and fraud, Chris Sheehan, said.
"It is important to note no NAB customers were impacted and no financial loss occurred as a result of the actions alleged by police."
Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.