Westpac CEO Gail Kelly and Chairman Lindsay Maxsted are up to the neck in concealing fraud by staff at Westpac. I have the documents to prove it including internal bank emails and an email sent to me on Mrs Kelly’s behalf which is in effect an admission.  Both Gail Kelly and Lindsay Maxsted should be in jail for concealing a serious indictable offence.

The Westpac fraud is very similar in a lot of regards to the story this week on massive bank fraud by employees at the Commonwealth Bank which was on the  ABC’s Four Corners program this week called Banking Bad.

The Commonwealth Bank fraud has resulted in 1200 financial planning customers being compensated $50 Million for the fraud so far. In the Four Corners program a whistle-blower told the senate inquiry “I suspect a broader review is just going to uncover there are a lot more, like, you know, tens of thousands of clients who are probably entitled to compensation, and it’s never been looked at.” If you have superannuation which we all do it is a must watch or read the transcript. (Click here to watch or read) The Commonwealth Bank has used some very grubby tactics to conceal the fraud and harass people who complain as can be seen in a letter to Michael Fraser. The letter is from CBA executive John Geurts, is mostly broad and generalised, has very little specific detail and can be accurately described as nothing more than rambling dribble from a fool trying to intimidate. (Click here to read more)

Background

Westpac made numerous multimillion dollar loans to Mario Girardo and were defrauded by him. At the time of Westpac making the loans Mario Girardo had no real assets, had three previous convictions for bank fraud and other frauds, was banned by ASIC from being a company director until 2007 and was awaiting trial for kidnap and extortion for which he was jailed for in 2011. Yet Westpac kept on lending him money.  The bank did eventually have him declared bankrupt as he was not paying his loan repayments but has refused to make a complaint to the police for fraud even though internal emails show they know that fraud has taken place.

In 2007 towards the end of Mario Girardo’s fraud spree Westpac put pressure on Patrick Hayes to do a joint deal with Mr Girardo to by a property. Mr Hayes did not know the background of Mr Girardo but the bank should have and highly likely did. The deal went bad as you would expect as Mr Girardo had no money and the bank instituted proceedings against both men. Mr Girardo was declared bankrupt and Mr Hayes is currently fighting in court as a self-represented litigant.

The documents and emails that I have relate to a 2006 fraudulent loan for $6.8 million from Westpac to Mr Mario Girardo which has nothing to do with Patrick Hayes. I wrote to Gail Kelly with the smoking gun evidence (Westpac’s own documents) and she had one of her staff respond and refused to take action. It is quite simple, if management have evidence of fraud against their company they have an obligation to report it to the police.

My email to Westpac CEO Gail Kelly

Dear Mrs Kelly

I am writing to you in relation to the fraud at Westpac that has been concealed by a number of Westpac employees. There is admission of the fraud in internal Westpac documents that are in my possession. The employees that have concealed the fraud include Chairman Lindsay Maxsted, John Murphy, Stuart Meager, Matt Sainsbury, and others.

If you look at attachment “Westpac admit fraud” it says:

“Please proceed against Girardo towards bankruptcy ASAP as it is obvious the bank has been subjected to some type of fraud in the original lend and loss will be significant.”

At the bottom of the attachment you will see a document from Allens Arthur Robinson lawyers explaining one element of how the fraud worked, which was getting an inflated property valuation so the purchaser could get an inflated and fraudulent loan.

Then if you look at attachment “Westpac admit staff involvement in fraud” where Westpac manager Greg McLachlan says in relation to the actions of Westpac employee Matt Sainsbury:

“whether there is a need for disciplinary action” and “It is concerning that the word of a non panel valuer and the purchaser have been given more credence then one of the Banks Panel Valuers especially given the very large difference between the two and it being an out of territory lending situation. The final two paragraphs of Shaynes email should also have been a clear warning supply of such accommodation was high and that some care in accepting the valuation provided was required.”

It is clear fraud had taken place and that Westpac had been defrauded. The fact that there has never been a complaint to the police for the fraud itself shows a cover-up by Westpac staff.

Matt Sainsbury’s conduct, which at best is disgraceful and at worst criminal, says there should have been a complaint to the police for fraud. Once again the fact there has been no complaint to the police shows a clear cover-up.

A highly likely hypothesis is that Mario Girardo bribed Matt Sainsbury and/or others at Westpac to get the $6.8 million loan and paid $5million for the unit and Mr Girardo pocketed the $1.8million balance. The original loan grew with further loans to $7.8 before Westpac sold the unit for $3.5 million and Westpac lost $4million and I am told Westpac lost another $11 million plus on other loans to Mr Girardo. It must be noted that Mr Girardo was on remand for extortion which was in the media at the time Westpac made a number of loans to him. He was also banned by ASIC from being a company director when some of the loans were approved by Westpac. Neither the ASIC banning or criminal charges facing Mr Girardo seemed to bother Westpac staff and they continued to loan him money.

What I find extremely disturbing is the two letters in relation to the same failing of Westpac to make a complaint to the police. One letter is written on behalf of the Westpac Chairman Lindsay Maxted (see attachment: Lindsay Maxted cover-up letter) which clearly implicates him in the cover-up. The other letter is written by Gary Johnston is December 2011. (See Attachment: Gary Johnston Westpac cover-up letter)  The main relevant difference of the two letters is one line in Mr Johnston’s letter which says:

“The Queensland police also advised that there is no need for Westpac to lodge a complaint of its own at this stage, although it was open to Westpac to do so if it chose to”

This line raises a few issues:

1. It is not believable a police officer would say “there is no need for Westpac to lodge a complaint” given it was a $4million fraud. Can Mr Johnston name the police officer who gave that advice?
2. If the police officer did say “it was open to Westpac to do so if it chose to” in relation to making a complaint then why did Westpac not make a complaint. Who at Westpac decided not to complain to the police in relation to the $4 million lost by Westpac from fraud by Girardo. Have Westpac sacked them? If not why not? It is so obvious a cover-up by Westpac staff.
3. Westpac have a large legal team and external lawyers who were already looking at the issue and they would have known that they needed to make a formal complaint to the police given it was a $4 million fraud and as there was at the very least evidence that suggested that Matt Sainsbury was part of the fraud as the attachments show. Whether he was knowingly part of the fraud is something the police should have investigated.
4. Why did Lindsay Maxsted leave the line out of his letter. Quite simply Mr Maxted would have known the line is a lie as it stands out a mile and that Westpac had an obligation to make a complaint of fraud to the police.

The above issues are currently part of a court proceedings involving Patrick Hayes. I am a journalist and investigate crime and to me the fact that the court proceedings are taking place is further evidence of the cover-up of the fraud. It is my understanding that counsel representing Westpac have already been caught deliberately misleading the court in evidence to try and cover-up the fraud.

Can you please advise what action you intend on taking and when you intend taking it. Do you intend calling the police and making a formal complaint and standing down Westpac staff until the matter is fully investigated?

I make a very serious allegation against Lindsay Maxsted in this email which is supported by the attached documents. Will you raise this allegation with the Westpac Board?

I look forward to your reply

Regards

Gail Kelly’s letter (Click here for a PDF version which is better quality than below)

I have been told senior Qld Police are disgusted that Westpac will not make a formal complaint in relation to the fraud because Westpac’s own staff are involved. So what Paul Green says in the letter above on behalf of Gail Kelly is a lie and he fails to answer most of the questions that I asked. With a $4 million fraud you have no option but to make a complaint to the police as failure to do so is a criminal offence in itself. It is believed Westpac sacked at least two staff over the matter but even then failed to make a complaint to the police.

Other people have written to Gail Kelly before regarding fraud at Westpac and she palmed them off. This time I wrote to her with the banks own documents showing fraud at Westpac and she has also failed to take action and responded with lies to me. Gail Kelly and Lindsay Maxsted are the biggest fraudsters at Westpac and should be doing jail time. They are in effect ripping of millions of Australian’s who are customers and shareholders. The above would only be the tip of the Iceberg at Westpac.

Patrick Hayes  (self-represented) is back in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Monday the 12th May 2014 in the matter Westpac Banking Corporation v Knight Property Investment NO.3 PTY LTD & another – Justice Peter Lyons – Court 20 – Floor 6 – 9.30 am. If you have time show up and support Mr Hayes. He is apparently up against 16 lawyers and barristers. Westpac are spending millions to have someone with no money declared bankrupt yet will not make a complaint to the police about a multimillion dollar fraud.

What to do: It is in everyone’s interest to have an honest banking system. The senate are currently investigating the Commonwealth Bank fraud and the chairman is senator Mark Bishop. Email Mr Bishop, the htreasure Mr Hockey and ASIC Chairman Greg Medcraft and Mrs Kelly and your local member demanding action by Westpac as per the draft below. I have just sent an email which is in the comment section below.

Example: senator.bishop@aph.gov.au gailkelly@westpac.com.au rpok@westpac.com.au

Dear Mr Bishop and Mrs Kelly

I request that you take summary action in relation to the fraud at Westpac bank etc. And copy the title of this post and first two paragraphs and put a link back. That makes it very difficult for them not to act.

The main reason Gail Kelly and other banks conceal fraud is not the fear of the cost of compensation although that is a concern. It is because they know a lot of their staff and their competitors commit fraud. So if they take action against their own staff for fraud it will send a signal to all staff to stop the fraud which will mean reduced sales and profit for the bank. And when profit is in the billions something as small as a 5% or 10% reduction can be a huge amount. Gail Kelly and others are happy to profit from fraud unless they are forced to stop it.

Admin: I was back in court on Thursday regarding the Kerry Stokes defamation proceedings. Stokes wants me to take down the post I published in February until the main hearings at least and Justice Hall has reserved his judgement. I haven’t been silenced but will hold fire at this point and say no more.

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