Carl Soriano, Naweena Sukkasem: no bail for man allegedly behind identify theft scam

The barrister of an eastern suburbs man alleged to be behind an identity theft scam has pointed the finger at her client’s partner and mother of his children in court as being the true crime boss.

A jobless eastern suburbs man who police allege had payments totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars appear in his bank account as he was heading up a credit card scam has been refused bail.

Carl Soriano, 45, of Eastgardens appeared in the Supreme Court to apply for bail on Wednesday.

Soriano has been charged with more than 30 counts of obtaining financial benefit by deception, as well as charges of possessing identification information with the intent to commit a serious indictable offence, recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime and participating in and directing a criminal group.

The alleged scam netted a total of $703,000 with Soriano’s individual portion alleged to have been almost $300,000 of the total.

The court heard from Soriano’s barrister Marina Kiriakos that her client’s co-accused Naweena Sukkasem, 43, who is also his partner and mother of his children, was arguably the brains behind the operation.

Officers make an arrest in relation to the alleged scam. Photo: NSW Police Force

“It is a weak prosecution case – any evidence has not been served that indicates his directing of a criminal group,” Ms Kiriakos said.

“One co-accused was pulled over and questioned about who his boss is. He refers to the boss and says, ‘her name is Jay’. We find out ‘Jay’ is a nickname for the co-accused Sukkasem.

“The name ‘Jay’ was (attached to) the number in the co-accused’s mobile phone which was used by the co-accused to contact Sukkasem.”

Ms Kiriakos asked her client be bailed to attend an inpatient rehabilitation centre to address his drug addiction.

Crown solicitor Edward Freelander said the prosecution opposed bail due to concerns he would commit further offences.

“The offences are not isolated in nature,” Mr Freelander said.

“It is a continuous course of conduct involving a fairly well not insignificant amount of money and very serious breaches of privacy of members of the public whose credit card details were taken to create bank accounts to siphon money,” Mr Freelander said.

The trio will defend themselves at a seven week court hearing. Photo: NSW Police Force.

Justice Peter Johnson refused the bail application for the purposes of attending rehab.

“He is not a young and immature person in the thrall of drug addiction,” Justice Johnson said.

A joint seven week hearing for Soriano, Sukkasem and their co-accused Jakkawan Wongsuwan, 41, of South Coogee will begin in Central Local Court on September 13.