The former director of a mortgage brokerage has pleaded guilty to making a false statement to ASIC.
Ding Yang stood as director of Melbourne-based Advanced Choice Finance Pty Ltd (ACF), which held an Australian credit licence with Yang as the sole fit and proper person and responsible manager on the licence.
But while he had his lender accreditation with the Bank of Melbourne terminated in July 2012, and his membership with aggregator Connective terminated in April 2016, Yang – on behalf of the brokerage – completed and lodged a credit licence annual compliance certificate with ASIC in which he falsely certified none of ACF’s fit and proper people had their accreditation cancelled by a lender or their membership with an aggregator terminated. This was in January 2017.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting the matter after a referral from ASIC.
ACF was charged with one count of knowingly making a false statement in a credit licence annual compliance certificate lodged with ASIC.
Yang has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting ACF in knowingly making a false statement in a credit licence annual compliance certificate lodged with ASIC, standing in violation of section 225(3) of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.
The case has been listed for sentencing on 13 April 2021, before the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
