NAB employee charged over role in Penthouse Syndicate’s alleged $150m bank fraud

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A National Australia Bank employee has been arrested and charged with helping what is alleged to be one of the biggest fraud and money-laundering syndicates in the country’s history defraud the finance giant of more than $150 million.

Financial crimes squad detectives working under Strike Force Myddleton on Thursday morning arrested Timotius Donny Sungkar, whom they allege is one of several corrupt NAB employees on the payroll of the so-called Penthouse Syndicate.

Strike Force Myddleton detectives arrest NAB employee Timotius Donny Sungkar.

Sungkar, 36, was taken into custody at his mother’s Bonnyrigg home just after 6am in a significant milestone in the investigation into the syndicate’s alleged infiltration of Australia’s third-largest bank.

A months-long Herald investigation into the Penthouse Syndicate has uncovered allegations the group defrauded NAB of more than $150 million in the past two years and used the tainted funds to build a luxury property empire across Sydney with the help of the allegedly corrupt bank employees.

Sungkar, a senior business banking manager at NAB’s Bankstown business centre, was taken to Cabramatta police station and charged with 19 offences after allegedly facilitating around $10 million worth of fraudulent business loans for the syndicate. They include participating in a criminal group, nine counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, and three offences related to dealing with the proceeds of crime. He was also charged with four counts of possessing or attempting to possess anabolic steroids and two counts of possessing or attempting to possess a restricted substance.

Sungkar, whose arrest came hours before NAB announced an annual profit of $7.1 billion, was refused police bail to appear in Fairfield Local Court on Friday.

Addressing the growing scandal for the first time, NAB chief executive Andrew Irvine on Thursday told the Herald: “Insider fraud is always difficult, we’ve got zero tolerance for it, and you can be sure that we’re looking at all of our processes and controls to make sure that those are strengthened as we go forward.”

Sungkar has been sacked by the bank, having initially been stood down pending the outcome of internal and police investigations.

Sungkar had worked for the bank since 2008, when he was employed in a customer advisory role, and was promoted to a senior position in October 2018 when he returned from an 18-month stint working as a mortgage broker. He was promoted to his position, in which he dealt directly with mortgage brokers who provided him with documents for loan applications, in August 2022.

Several other NAB employees are under investigation for allegedly facilitating home and business loans for the syndicate under the direction of the Penthouse Syndicate’s alleged ringleader, Shanghai-born 38-year-old Bing “Michael” Li. Those employees have not been charged, but have been stood down from their positions pending the outcome of an internal investigation and detectives’ probe into the employees’ alleged involvement with the syndicate.

No NAB customers have been targeted in the alleged fraud.

Detectives have arrested 16 syndicate members since Strike Force Myddleton was formed last January to investigate a $10 million fraud scheme involving the purchase of non-existent luxury cars in Sydney’s west.

“I said that we’d be coming for them, and we’ve started,” Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja, commander of the financial crimes squad, told the Herald.

“And this person won’t be the last.”

In what was a major catalyst for the Penthouse Syndicate’s spectacular downfall, Li was arrested in July in the $18 million penthouse of the Crown’s residential tower at Barangaroo, from where police say he directed the syndicate. Detectives believe the syndicate has defrauded several of the major banks and other financiers of more than $250 million dating back at least seven years.

Li’s arrest and the subsequent investigation into the NAB employees has brought police scrutiny to professionals working on the outskirts of the finance industry, including corrupt solicitors, mortgage brokers and real estate agents who police say form a network of facilitators that helped the syndicate build its multimillion-dollar property portfolio.

Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja, commander of the financial crimes squad, said further arrests linked to the Penthouse Syndicate are expected.

“At every single point of the transaction, there’s trust. Whether it’s a banker, whether it’s a solicitor, a conveyancer, a valuer – there’s always an element of trust that the bank relies upon – and every single time, that trust has been violated,” Arbinja said.

Li, who remains in custody after several failed bail applications, has been charged with more than 80 offences related to $12.9 million worth of fraud linked to the luxury car scheme and other frauds, but police allege he was heavily involved in orchestrating a large portion of the alleged NAB fraud and has, through mules hired by the syndicate, bought several properties in the past two years. Detectives allege Li has orchestrated the laundering of millions of dollars through the purchase of property and other assets.

Other NAB employees at several locations across Sydney are suspected of receiving bribes from the syndicate to approve home and business loan applications, which police allege they knew were submitted with fraudulent documents including company records, tax returns and financial statements.

The Penthouse Syndicate’s alleged ringleader, Bing “Michael” Li, was arrested in the penthouse of the Crown’s residential tower in July.

The syndicate’s alleged infiltration of the finance giant raises questions about what anti-corruption measures were in place at the bank, which became aware of the alleged fraud and its scale only through the police investigation.

In July, NAB finalised an enforceable undertaking with the federal government’s anti-money laundering and financial crimes watchdog, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

In exchange for being spared a multimillion-dollar fine, NAB agreed to improve its compliance with anti-money laundering laws and counter-terrorism financing laws.

Despite the scrutiny on the bank’s fraud and money-laundering controls, most of the Penthouse Syndicate’s alleged defrauding of NAB was carried out while the undertaking was in place.

Sungkar was allegedly paid $17,000 to facilitate fraudulent business loans worth millions of dollars for “shell” companies purchased by the syndicate. Sungkar was allegedly paid through transfers made to his now-estranged wife’s bank account by Li.

Police allege Sungkar facilitated fraudulent business loans for syndicate members Hanna Karliana and Indra Hari Nurkianto.

Penthouse Syndicate members have purchased several of the companies, which typically have a minimum of two years’ trading history, for between $5000 and $10,000. Police allege the syndicate has used fraudulent financial documents linked to the companies to inflate members’ income, allowing them to secure multimillion-dollar mortgage and business loans.

Sungkar is alleged to have approved fraudulent business loans worth millions for several shell companies linked to syndicate members Hanna Karliana and her partner, Indra Hari Nurkianto. Karliana, 61, and Nurkianto, 60, were in August charged with a number of offences over their alleged roles in the Penthouse Syndicate.

Police allege the couple bought $15 million worth of property – two CBD apartments and a Bellevue Hill townhouse – on behalf of the syndicate using fraudulent documents. Sungkar is accused of facilitating millions of dollars worth of business loans for shell companies of which Karliana and Nurkianto were directors.

Chris Sheehan, head of NAB’s group investigations and fraud business unit, said the bank had “zero tolerance for employees who engage in criminal conduct”.

“There is absolutely no place for financial crime in our community and we recognise the important role we play in the monitoring and reporting of suspicious activity, working closely with police as well as regulators and government agencies as necessary,” Sheehan said.

Sheehan said NAB was working with police and providing “significant support to aid the investigation and attempted recovery of any funds lost to criminal activity”.

Arbinja said NAB had co-operated with the police investigation since it became aware of the alleged fraud.

“These types of syndicates can only be investigated thoroughly with the proper cooperation of our banking partners. It can’t be done solely with police,” he said.

Beyond NAB, detectives are investigating the syndicate’s suspected infiltration of the country’s other major banks, which the group is believed to have defrauded.

The NSW Crime Commission has seized $60 million worth of property, cars and luxury goods linked to Li, his partner, Zhouyao “Yumi” Chen and other syndicate members.

Chen, 37, has been charged with several offences related both to the luxury car scheme, and more than $4 million worth of allegedly fraudulent NAB mortgage and business loans.

Karliana and Nurkianto’s daughter-in-law, Thi Ngo Hao Vu, 35, has been charged with a number of offences related to $3.2 million worth of allegedly fraudulent mortgage and business loans.

According to court documents, another senior NAB banking manager allegedly approved a $2 million mortgage application and a business loan worth almost $500,000 after advising Li, Vu and her husband, Ibnu Pratama, which documents would be needed to secure the loan. The mortgage was used to purchase Bondi Junction beauty salon Beauty Pavilion.

Pratama left Australia in December 2023, a week after detectives raided the home of one of his, Li and Vu’s Beauty Pavilion business partners. He has not returned to the country. A warrant for his arrest was issued in September.

Yizhe “Tony” He, who is alleged to be involved in the operation of the syndicate alongside Li, remains in custody charged with more than 100 offences related to the same scheme.

Li and Chen are expected to be charged with a raft of further offences, and other syndicate members are expected to be arrested, as detectives unravel the group’s alleged frauds and investigations into bank employees’ involvement continue.

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