Sumitomo Mitsui Banking of Japan has become the latest major bank ensnared by an alleged fraud carried out by Sydney-based firm, Forum Finance, with an exposure of nearly $100 million.
According to The Australian Financial Review, the bank’s leasing division, SMBC Leasing and Finance, had filed a claim to the Federal Court seeking consent to appoint a liquidator to Forum Enviro, which is part of the Forum Group of companies.
Basile Papadimitriou, better known as Bill Papas, is named as a defendant.
Court documents have confirmed an exposure of $98.9 million to Sumitomo Mitsui in the legal action against Forum Enviro and Mr Papas, the Australian Financial Reviewreports.
Sumitomo Mitsui has applied for freezing orders to be placed on Mr. Papas and is seeking damages for “the tort of unlawful means conspiracy” and “in deceit”.
According to the newspaper, along with the $285 million alleged by Westpac and a further $9 million by French bank Société Générale, the total exposure of the alleged fraud is getting close to $400 million. Humm Group also told the sharemarket it had a potential exposure of around $12 million.
Sumitomo Mitsui was not immediately available for comment by the AFR.
Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke MP, have met with senior leaders from Sydney’s multicultural communities to listen to their concerns about Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak.
During the ‘Sydney Community Leaders’ Forum, Mr Morrison and Mr Hawke also discussed the recent support being made available by the Australian Government, and thanked the community leaders for their vital work in keeping their communities and all Australians safe.
“We reiterated the Government’s advice to communities affected by COVID-19 outbreaks – stay home, get tested, isolate yourself and get vaccinated. And we asked community leaders to continue to share that message as a matter of priority,” Mr Hawke said in a press release.
Scott Morrison and Alex Hawke MP have met with senior leaders from Sydney’s multicultural communities.
Forum participants raised issues including countering online misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, the importance of communicating to communities in their language and gaining access to Government support, such as the Australian Government COVID-19 Disaster Payments. Many offered their own community centres as vaccination and testing hubs.
In response, Mr Hawke stressed that all new Government material regarding the evolving COVID-19 situation – including on the vaccination rollout and support packages the government is providing – is distributed to all community organisations, in English and up to 63 community languages.
“The Government’s national vaccines campaign includes advertising translated in 32 languages and is targeted at multicultural audiences across radio, print, online and social media channels,” Mr Hawke stated in his press release.
Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.
“Furthermore, the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia, the Migration Council of Australia, the Settlement Council of Australia, and the Multicultural Youth Advisory Network are also helping to disseminate key COVID-19 vaccine information to their multicultural networks and communities.”
The Government also recently announced a $1.2 million COVID-19 small grants program to support multicultural community groups to design and lead grass roots communication activities, tailored to meet the needs of their communities.
Archbishop Makarios of Australia urges Sydney faithful to get vaccinated:
His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia is also doing his part to spread COVID-19 stay at home orders with a message of support to the Greek Orthodox community in Sydney.
In his message, Archbishop Makarios said that it is our duty “not to leave anyone alone in the crisis,” and encouraged people to get vaccinated against COVID- 19 “in order to achieve the best possible control of the pandemic.”
Archbishop Makarios of Australia.
“Unfortunately, Australia has one of the lowest rates of people who are vaccinated among the population compared to other countries in the world,” Archbishop Makarios writes in the message.
“We must not forget that vaccination constitutes an act of self-protection, but, primarily, it is an act of love and solidarity for our family, community, and the wider society to which we belong.”
Archbishop Makarios then went on to encourage the faithful to reach out to the Greek Welfare Centre on (02) 9516 2188, their local parish or the offices of the Holy Archdiocese if they are in need of any kind of support.
“I urge all Greeks, and every person of good will, to mobilise all their reserves of love and compassion in order to create a strong net of protection for those who are suffering and in need,” Archbishop Makarios said.
Residents in Greater Sydney will remain in lockdown for “at least” another two weeks until 11:59 pm on Friday 30 July, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced.
The NSW Premier warned residents to prepare for a longer lockdown into August despite the two-week extension.
“We can’t afford any setbacks,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned.
All current restrictions, as well home learning, will remain until at least Friday 30 July.
NSW recorded 97 new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8 pm last night, of which 24 were infectious while in the community.
That’s from over 65,000 tests overnight.
NSW recorded 97 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/YfNptxyua5
The main cases of community transmission are families and workplace contacts.
70 out today’s 97 cases were in south-west Sydney with three quarters coming from the Fairfield local government area (LGA).
Mobility is still high in the Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool areas, with the “vast majority” of cases still coming from south-west Sydney, Premier Berejiklian and chief health officer Kerry Chant announced.
The main areas of concern are Fairfield, Roselands, Rosebury, Canterbury, Belmore, Sutherland Shire, the St George area, Windsor, St Ives, Penrith, and the Bayside LGA.
71 people are in hospital with COVID-19 at the moment, with 20 in the ICU.
The COVID-19 support package announced yesterday by the Commonwealth and NSW governments is designed to assist residents and businesses affected by the lockdown and will be available for other states which find themselves in a lockdown for three weeks.
The package includes mandatory mediation, a 60-day pause to forced evictions of residential tenants, and up to $1500 for eligible landlords and tenants.
Turkish authorities have erupted in a furor after the country’s soccer team Galatasary was asked to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival in Athens on Monday.
Greek authorities allege the players and coach Fatih Terim refused to follow random testing procedures which require all overseas visitors to re-test for COVID-19 regardless of any prior negative test result.
“No exceptions can be made to safety rules. The application of those procedures must be absolute,” deputy minister for Civil Protection, Nikos Hardalias, said in a statement.
“Given their refusal to comply with those rules, they were refused entry into the country on my orders.”
The scheduled match between the Olympiakos and Galatasary soccer teams was canceled after the Galatasary team was denied entry and sent back to Istanbul.
Greek Ambassador Michael-Christos Diamessis was reportedly scolded by the Turkish Foreign Ministry over the ‘illegal’ and ‘discriminatory’ request, according to state-run Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency.
Türk bayrağını büyük gururla formasında taşıyan, Avrupa'da Türkiye'yi defalarca temsil eden Galatasarayımıza yapılan küstah davranışlardan kareler 📸 pic.twitter.com/cs3J2MeZxF
“The fact that Greece welcomes one of our country’s leading teams with such behaviour shows its intolerance towards our country, even in the field of sports,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Turkish Football Federation said the players had been treated in an “unacceptable” way.
“We condemn the attitude adopted by the Greek authorities. Their behaviour was not in a sporting spirit. We stand by Galatasaray sports club,” the federation said.
Tensions between Greece and Turkey are currently high over maritime boundaries and the respective rights of ethnic and religious minorities in each country.
Greece’s 30.5 billion euro economic recovery and resilience plan, Greece 2.0, has been formally approved by the European Union (EU).
Greece is among 11 other EU countries that have been had agreements formalised with the EU for subsidised assistance to deal with their economic fallouts from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now the hard work begins as we accelerate our plans [to] create jobs and growth in the sustainable, digital, and infrastructure space, leading to a brighter future for all our citizens,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote on his Twitter.
Historic moment for Greece, as our National Recovery and Resilience Plan is approved. Now the hard work begins as we accelerate our plans creating jobs and growth in the sustainable, digital and infrastructure space, leading to a brighter future for all our citizens.
— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) July 13, 2021
Billions are set to pour into the fund as early as this month.
The EU is estimated to fund 30.5 billion euros (AU$48.26 billion) towards the plan to create jobs and boost economic growth.
Greece’s fund from the EU is the highest per capita among all EU countries.
The country is set to receive €4 billion (AU$6.32 billion) by the end of the month and €7.5 billion (AU$11.86 billion) before the end of the year.
Finance Minister Christos Staikouras called for the “optimal and speediest use of the funds from the recovery facility” following the announcement at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting in Brussels.
“Today is an important day for Greece and Europe,” he said.
Alternate Finance Minister Theodoros Skylakakis said the Greece 2.0 model aims to put the country onto a steady course of growth and foster a more open, more competitive, more resilient, and greener productive model.
From a very young age, Kirin Georgi says although she felt very Australian, she always knew deep down there was some Greek blood running through her veins.
“My mum always had this affinity with the Greek shop keepers in our area. She was always very friendly and they were always very accepting of her,” Kirin, who grew up in Canberra, tells The Greek Herald exclusively.
But it wasn’t until a man turned up to her family’s doorstep one day and asked about their family tree that Kirin truly found out the reality of her Greekness.
“When I was a little girl, the man… would come and talk to my mother about our family and family tree and they’d share letters that my mum would receive and that he’d receive,” Kirin explains.
Kirin (right) and her sister Alissa (left).
“His interest was finding the first Greek settlers and how Greeks came to be in Australia and why. So, between my mum, my dad and him… they came up with this family tree and he said, ‘this is where you sit and this is where you are’.”
The man was Hugh Gilchrist, former Australian Ambassador to Greece between 1968 and 1972, and author of Australians and Greeks Volume I: The Early Years, Volume 2: The Middle Years and Volume 3: The Later Years.
He told Kirin, her parents and sister Alissa, that they were descendants of one of the first Greek settlers in Australia, Gikas Voulgaris, through the maternal line.
Who was Gikas?
Gikas Voulgaris, who was also known affectionately as ‘Jigger,’ arrived at Port Jackson, Sydney, on August 27, 1829, on the British convict ship Norfolk. He, along with six other Greeks, had been convicted of piracy in the Mediterranean by a British court.
Gikas Voulgaris was one of the first Greek settlers in Australia.
Once in Australia, Gikas was put into servitude with the colonial secretary until his parole in 1835. Afterwards, he and one of the other Greek convicts, Andonis Manolis, decided to remain and settle in Australia.
Gikas became a shepherd in Braidwood and moved from place to place in southern New South Wales, always staying close to the Snowy Monaro district. By the 1860’s, Gikas had settled at a sheep-run in the Nimmitabel area between Bombala and Cooma, where he remained working as a grazier until his death in 1874.
Of course, Gikas left a legacy of five sons and five daughters with his wife Mary Lyons, who was a servant girl from Cork in Ireland. They were: Xanthe Anne Ghica, Catherine, William Nicholas, George, Helena, Mary Amelia, Henry Lyons, Elizabeth Jane, John Demetrius and James Manolis.
According to Kirin, she is linked to Gikas through James whereby, her great grandmother, Xanthe Eileen, was James’ daughter. Later, Eileen gave birth to Marjorie, Kirin’s grandmother, and then Kirin’s mother, Suellen, came into the picture.
The Voulgaris family tree. Photo supplied / High Gilchrist 1984.
‘I am very proud of it’:
This link to Gikas is something which Kirin says she’s ‘very proud of’ and has a strong connection to because when she was first married, she followed in the footsteps of her ancestor and moved her whole family to Berridale. This small town is in the same Snowy Monaro district where Gikas spent most of his life and raised his own family.
“I actually made the decision to move out there and start a life, have a tree change. Once there, I took [Gilchrist’s] book and went on a voyage of discovery,” Kirin, who has three children, says.
“My father had taken me, about 23 years ago, into the Tinderry Ranges to Mary Lyons’ house, so I went there and found the farm and the reference points they talk about in the book. So that’s how I feel very connected to him because I feel very connected to that place.”
Kirin moved to the Snowy Monaro region to feel closer to Gikas.
At the same time, Kirin built her family home in the Hilltop region nearby and even experienced the same cold, harsh winters that Gikas would have 100 years prior. This also strengthened Kirin’s connection to her Greek ancestor.
“It was a very deliberate decision that when we built our house, one side of the house faced the mountains and the other overlooked the plains. It was quite high and you could see out to the Monaro plains. For me, that felt like home,” Kirin says.
Although Kirin has since moved to Melbourne, she clearly still has fond memories of the small town and in fact, her daughter, son and grandson, Ollie, are still living in the Snowy Monaro area. Her son also works in a Greek restaurant called ‘Ela Messa’ in Jindabyne.
“For me, knowing that Gikas’ descendants are still being born and living there is the icing on the cake,” Kirin concludes with a smile on her face.
(L) Kirin’s son and grandson. (R) Alissa’s family. Photos supplied.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, and NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet have announced a cash boost for Sydney businesses and households affected by the lockdown.
Under a new combined support package, the COVID-19 Disaster Payment will be further expanded and increased. The Commonwealth and NSW will also enter into a new 50/50 cost sharing arrangement for a new business support payment to be implemented and administered by NSW.
From week four of a lockdown because of a Commonwealth Government declared hotspot, the COVID-19 Disaster Payment will increase to $600 if a person has lost 20 or more hours of work a week or $375 if a person has lost between 8 and less than 20 hours of work a week.
The Commonwealth and NSW have also agreed that from 18 July 2021 the COVID-19 Commonwealth Disaster Payment will be available to those outside Commonwealth declared hotspots in NSW that meet the criteria for the payment.
Sydney businesses have been struggling during the lockdown.
The NSW Government will fund any payments outside a Commonwealth declared hotspot, with the Commonwealth continuing to fund payments to recipients in a Commonwealth declared hotspot.
This support will be offered to any other state or territory that experiences an extended lockdown.
A new business support payment will also be available to entities with an annual turnover between $75,000 and $50 million who can demonstrate a 30 per cent decline in turnover.
To receive the payment, eligible entities will be required to maintain their full time, part time and long term casual staffing level as of 13 July 2021.
Eligible entities, which includes not-for-profits, will receive payments of between $1,500 and $10,000 per week based on the level of their payroll. For non-employing businesses, such as sole traders, the payment will be set at $1,000 per week.
Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, said as the pandemic evolved so did the responses from the Commonwealth and state governments.
Scott Morrison made the announcement today.
“Up until now, the Commonwealth has provided the same support to that offered to all other states and territories, consistent with the national approach agreed by National Cabinet last month,” the Prime Minister said.
“As the outbreak has worsened well beyond what we have recently seen in other states and territories, it is in the national interest to enable increased assistance, in partnership with the NSW Government, for workers, business and households, to ensure the lockdown can be maintained to arrest the latest outbreak.
“This new support represents a new national approach and will apply to other states and territories in the event they face similar circumstances.”
The Commonwealth and NSW governments will also deliver a $17.35 million mental health support package for NSW including for services through Lifeline, headspace and Kid’s Helpline.
NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, said the support package would help businesses and families across NSW get through a difficult period.
Gladys Berejiklian.
“Our number one priority remains the health and safety of the people of NSW while also keeping our economy strong as we manage the current COVID-19 challenge,” the NSW Premier said.
“We are pleased to be able to increase our targeted support in conjunction with the Commonwealth and this assistance will ensure we get through the lockdown and come out stronger on the other side.”
NSW Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said the Morrison Government was stepping up to support NSW households and business when they need it most as the state seeks to suppress the delta variant.
“The outbreak in NSW is a timely reminder we are still in the midst of a global pandemic and that there is much work to do to secure our economic recovery,” the Treasurer said.
“The new small business support payment, to be funded on a 50/50 basis with the NSW Government, will support up to an estimated 500,000 entities employing more than 3 million people.”
NSW Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, says the package will help thousands of businesses.
NSW Treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, said the package would help thousands of businesses across the State.
“We have done this before and we can do it again and this targeted support will help those who need it,” the NSW Treasurer said.
“If you’re a worker, a sole trader, a small or medium business or a big employer – we’ve got your back.
“This package will help families and businesses weather the current storm and ensure we can hit the ground running once this current outbreak is under control.”
More information will be available on the Service NSW website later this week.
Peter Crinis has stepped down as chief of Crown Sydney just six months into the role and will wrap up his over 20-year run with the battered company in December.
Staff at the Barangaroo site were informed of Crinis’s intention to depart early on Monday, just days after Margin Call revealed he had been making contingency plans.
He’s the latest in a series of casualties who’ve headed for the exit in recent months but it was Mr. Crinis’ decision to quit, rather than a situation of being forced out, which draws his time at Crown Resorts to a close, the Australian reports.
Mr. Crinis has so far escaped being dragged into any of Crown’s several inquiries, with just one mention in the Commissioner, Patricia Bergin’s, final report into Crown Sydney, regarding an overseas trip he took with then chairman John Alexander.
Peter Crinis joined Crown Resorts Melbourne in 1997 and has been the chief operating officer for the past 10 years.
He moved to Sydney as chief executive officer of chief operating officer in January ahead of the official (non-gaming) launch of their Barangaroo site.
Mr. Crinis launched a new corporate entity, Anchor Consulting Co., last month.
No real estate auctioneer ever imagines to be the subject of intimidation from a bikie gang or a knife attack, but desperate times have called for desperate measures for those wishing to buy a property in Sydney’s red-hot market.
As the housing market heats up, prices go through the roof, and buyer competition becomes tougher than ever, auctioneers like Tom Panos have accepted to expect the unexpected.
Mr. Panos tells the Daily Telegraph he had the most bizarre of his real estate nightmares come true.
“I was auctioning this Newtown home and had been talking it up on TV and during the auction, saying what a great place it was etc and the vendor was obviously paying a lot of attention,” Mr Panos says.
“After the home was sold under the hammer we went inside and the vendor said: ‘I’ve been listening to everything you have said and you’re right, this is paradise. I’ve decided I want to stay so I’m not selling’”.
Mr Panos put his foot down and grappled with the former owner over the fact that he had sold their house.
“He was OK the next day but he definitely had cold feet,” he says.
“I’ve never seen something like that before or since,” Mr Panos said.
Tom Panos has 35 years of experience in the industry and this certainly wasn’t the first or last time he’s witnessed the worst in home buyers.
The live stream of his $1.425m sale of a home in Belfield, in southwest Sydney, was flooded by dozens of ‘racist’ comments among the two-to-three million who tuned in in April.
Westpac has widened its actions against Forum Finance and boss Bill Papas by targeting a suite of linked corporate entities, as investigations into an alleged $294 million fraud grow.
According to The Australian, the Federal Court ordered on Monday that National Australia Bank and four Forum Group companies, including Forum Enviro and Forum Group Financial Services, hand over documents to the court by Wednesday.
The orders require a copy of the most recent audited or unaudited financial statements and management accounts of four Forum Group companies.
They also call for a copy of bank account statements and debtors ledgers from the four companies from August 1, 2018 to now, The Australianreports.
Court documents show two plastic tubs of documents were removed from equipment leasing firm Forum Finance’s Walker Street office in North Sydney, as part of a search order.
Those same documents reveal holders of Forum Finance’s computer services blocked attempts from Westpac’s technical experts to access the company’s electronic records.
According to The Australian, an annexed email from Corrs Chambers Westgarth partner, Felicity Healy, shows when she attended Forum Finance’s offices on June 29 she was told OurKloud, the holders of the company records, was controlled by a relative of Mr Papas.
The first attempt on June 30 to access the records proceeded days of fruitless attempts of communication before Justice Michael Lee ordered OurKloud to hand over the records on July 7.
Westpac Australia’s exposure to the alleged fraud is a combined $294m – $254.5m from Westpac Australia and $39.8m from Westpac New Zealand.
The whereabouts of Mr Papas, whose full name is Basile Papadimitriou, remain unknown.
