Westpac says at least seven major corporate customers including Coles, Woolworths, Veolia and WesTrac have been caught up in an alleged fraud involving fake invoices and forged signatures that could cost the bank more than $290 million, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
After the bank launched legal action against Sydney-based Forum Financial, which is run by Basile Papadimitriou, on Friday, documents released by the Federal Court reveal new details about the scandal and how it was uncovered.
According to the SMH, one of the documents also says Mr Papadimitriou, known as Bill Papas, has not been contactable since mid-June when he did not attend a scheduled meeting with WesTrac due to a “health emergency.”
The bank’s repeated requests to contact Mr Papas had gone nowhere and the last information received suggested he was in Perth Hospital, according to the documents.
Westpac has said none of its corporate customers appear to have suffered financial loss, but the affidavits point to a trail of fake signatures that were uncovered following an investigation in recent weeks, the SMH writes.
FULL STORY: The Sydney Morning Herald.
