Bill Papas, the man at the centre of nearly $400 million worth of fraud allegations by major Australian and global banks, has been accused of lying in a sworn affidavit, The Australian Financial Review reports.
Mr Papas filed three affidavits in the Federal Court on Friday morning after repeated demands to do so over the last month, but Jeremy Giles, SC, representing Westpac, immediately accused Mr Papas of lying after his first review of the documents.
READ MORE: Japanese giant latest bank tied to Bill Papas’ Westpac fraud scandal.
“We simply don’t accept that as an accurate statement, and we will in due course lead evidence of payments out of the Forum Group Financial Services account to Mazcon of circa $2 million in mid-June this year,” Mr Giles said, according to the AFR.
READ MORE: Liquidators appointed to Bill Papas’ troubled Forum group of companies.
An interim suppression order was granted over Mr Papas’ affidavits until a hearing at midday this Wednesday to argue whether they would be suppressed.
This latest news comes as Mr Papas made representations to his lawyers that he intended to return to Australia from Thessaloniki, but has since claimed he had a positive COVID-19 test and is now unable to return because of a lack of funds and limited flight availability.
READ MORE: Alleged fraudster Bill Papas spotted in Thessaloniki.
“He can’t get a flight without money, and flights are limited because of the increase in the cap on arrivals,” Mr Papas’ barrister, Jim Johnson, told the court on July 28.
The whereabouts of Mr Papas had proved a mystery until that point as Westpac began to uncover an alleged fraud involving funds it had extended to companies in the Forum group that they believed were on behalf of the bank’s blue chip clients.
Source: The Australian Financial Review.
