Fraud accused trio plead not guilty

The lawyer, banker and wife of a convicted property developer are on trial for their alleged involvement in a $54 million mortgage fraud.

Earlier this month the man at the centre of the fraud case, Kang Huang, also known as Gang Wang, was sentenced to four years and seven months prison after admitting to having provided false information to acquire fraudulent home loans and to bribing one employee in December.

Huang’s associates allegedly involved in the fraud – his wife, Kang Xu, lawyer Gang Chen and former Bank of New Zealand employee Zongliang Jiang – pleaded not guilty to a total of 72 charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

A fourth associate allegedly involved in the fraud, former ANZ banker Peter Cheng, fled overseas before his arrest.

SFO prosecutor Todd Simmonds said Huang and Xu were bankrupted in 2010 and were discharged in 2013. About 14 months after they were declared bankrupt, the pair set up construction company LV Park, which is at the centre of the fraud.

Unable to borrow from the major trading banks, LV Park made sham arms-length sales to obtain bank loans through the use of false documents. The documents used fake identification and names of employees, friends and family.

Simmonds alleged that although Huang was the instigator of the fraud, his wife Xu knowingly supplied false documents to bank manager Jiang for loan approval.

Chen was allegedly very close to Huang and acted as a solicitor for both vendor and buyer in most of the property transactions.

The fraudulent activity involved 75 properties. There are three banks involved in the case: ANZ, BNZ and a third, which has name suppression.

Simmonds said the fraud was ‘‘organised, systematic and complex deception’’.