Two men behind the multi-million dollar Myra Home Loan home loan fraud have had their sentences handed down in the Victorian County Court.
Aizaz Hassan and Mohamed Radhi Maki Ebrahim Ahmed were each sentenced to five year Community Corrections Orders, with special conditions including to undertake 400 hours of community service. Both men had pleaded guilty to one count each of common law conspiracy to defraud.
The fraud charge concerned both men’s role at finance broking company, Myra Home Loan Pty Ltd, located in Footscray, Victoria and their involvement in the creation and use of false documents in support of home loan applications.
Approximately 600 loan applications were prepared and submitted to a range of banks, including all four majors, with the total value of approved home loans (approximately 520 loans) being approximately $170 million.
According to ASIC, both men’s guilty plea was an important factor in the Judge’s decision. Her Honour Judge Lawson noted that both men would have been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with a minimum of three years to serve had it not been for the guilty plea.
In her ruling, Her Honour said Hassan and Ahmed were “important cogs” in what she described as a “sophisticated and sustained” operation, which was a “very serious offence”.
ASIC alleged that Hassan participated in the conspiracy with Shah from about March 2008 to August 2010, and that Ahmed joined the conspiracy from December 2009 until December 2011, when ASIC executed search warrants and the business ceased operating.
