Gaurav Malhotra fronts court over bank loan fraud

A Melbourne man working in his wife’s business stole $11m worth of fraudulent loans for home buyers while posing as a financial broker.

Gaurav Malhotra was arrested after police discovered fraudulent loan documents he lodged with banks to steal nearly $11m in loans for home buyers.

A pencil pusher has admitted stealing about $11m worth of loans from banks using fraudulent documents by posing as a financial broker in his wife’s business.

Gaurav Malhotra, 49, is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty on February 19 to three charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, two of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and one of using a false document.

He was employed by his wife Reena Malhotra — a registered mortgage broker — as a loans administration assistant in her business, JBR Financial Services.

Malhotra altered bank slips, inflated his victims’ pay and filed false statutory declarations in order to secure home loans on multiple occasions.

Gaurav Malhotra posed as a financial broker and submitted false documents to banks in order to obtain loans for home buyers around Melbourne.

In one case, Malhotra obtained a loan of $367,900 from the Bank of Melbourne for Suman Burlakoti who earned $45,000 per year as a chef. Malhotra incorrectly stated that Mr Burlakoti’s annual income was $70,000 and submitted what purported to be a NAB bank statement when the chef banked with ANZ.

Malhotra also stated in the loan application that Mr Burlakoti owned shares and his value of superannuation was inflated.

Another victim Harmandeep Bhatal was interested in buying land and building a house and consulted Malhotra to arrange a bank loan.

Gaurav Malhotra inflated the value of superannuation in one of the loan documents he submitted to the Bank of Melbourne,

Police discovered a NAB bank statement showing a balance of $61,000 among the loan documents. Mr Bhatal had never held an account with NAB.

In another loan application, Malhotra submitted a false statutory declaration to obtain a loan by stating the applicant’s brother had gifted him $45,000.

Malhotra has been remanded in custody for sentencing on March 12.