A 73-year-old South Australian man provided false payslips to banks to help Vietnamese migrants purchase properties they could not have bought otherwise, a court has heard.
Lam Duc Vu, who came to Australia as a refugee after the communist army took over Saigon and later became a justice of peace, pleaded guilty in the District Court to at least 10 counts of dishonest dealings with documents between 2016 and 2017.
During sentencing submissions on Monday, it was also heard that Vu helped establish a charity, called Vietnamese Welfare Service, to assist Vietnamese people in completing tax returns and applying for bank loans, among other services, ABC reported.
“He knows that he has let down a lot of people and he knows that those, in particular, in the Vietnamese community who trusted him to apply for the loans and follow the law, have been let down by his actions,” Vu’s lawyer, Patrick Dawes told the court.
Dawes also argued that “none of the banks in this matter have suffered any loss because the loans… have all been repaid by the applicants.”
“Not that it justifies my client’s wrongdoing, but in many cases the applicants to the loans have actually had a property that they’ve lived in and made repayments on that they otherwise wouldn’t have had and have now got the benefit of capital gain and the enjoyment of those properties because of the loan,” he told the court.
Dawes said Vu gained “very little benefit” from the misconduct and was now remorseful and had “learned a hard lesson.”
And although Vu knowingly gave the bank false payslips, he did not create the documents nor did any of the loan applicants, Vu’s lawyer told the court.
AFG terminated its agreement with Vu’s company, Ideal Home Loans, following concerns about the legitimacy of the documents provided, the court heard.
Judge Paul Muscat was asked by Dawes to find “good reason” to suspend a prison sentence – a request the prosecutor did not oppose given Vu had no criminal history and was unlikely to reoffend.
Vu will be sentenced on Friday, ABC reported.
