Pair named in $40m fraud case

Two people charged in a $40 million mortgage fraud case where alleged kickbacks were paid to bank staff can now be named.

Richard Chen (also known as Gang Chen) and Zongliang Jiang (also known as Charly Jiang) have both denied charges for obtaining by deception and breaching the Secret Commissions Act. Chen, 41, and Jiang, 36, both live in Auckland.

With two other co-accused, they were granted interim name suppression when they appeared in the Auckland District Court in September.

Judge Philippa Anne Cunningham said last month that none of the four had satisfied the test for continued name suppression.

But two of the group are now challenging that and cannot be identified until at least after their appeals are decided. Chen’s and Jiang’s name suppression lapsed last week.

All four defendants have denied the charges they face and have elected for a trial by jury. They are due to reappear in the Auckland District Court in March.

They are accused of obtaining by deception over information provided to secure mortgage finance on dozens of Auckland and Hamilton properties. The Serious Fraud Office says loans of more than $40m are involved.

Not all of the defendants are accused of all of the alleged offending.

Court documents show the SFO alleges false salary payments were made as part of the applications for some of the loans in the case.

Banks were also allegedly provided with false income and employment information.

The SFO says Chen gave banks a passport in the name of someone which he knew to be false.

Jiang allegedly processed and approved loan applications for the purchase of properties that he knew “were not true purchases, or was reckless as to whether they were”.

Jiang, Chen and one of their unnamed co-defendants are also facing charges that they breached the little-used Secret Commissions Act.

Those charges allege that sums ranging from $5000 to more than $30,000 were paid by and to bank staff in return for approving mortgage applications.