Police allege Shane De Jong, 52 and Bruce Abernethy, 46, behind $4.6m fraud against steel giant Infrabuild

Two men have faced court charged over with defrauding Infrabuild Australia for more than four years.

Infrabuild was the target of an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud. Picture: Alan Barber

Steel giant Infrabuild Australia was the victim of years-long, multimillion-dollar alleged fraud.

Two men, Shane De Jong, 52, and Bruce Abernethy, 46, have been charged over the long-running scheme.

De Jong faced Melbourne Magistrates Court for the first time on Monday after police earlier this month charged him with a single count of dishonestly obtaining property.

Abernethy first faced court earlier this month.

Infrabuild Australia was allegedly defrauded of millions. Picture: Infrabuild Recycling.

Infrabuild has been running for more than 70 years.

Few details of the duo’s scheme have been publicly released, but according to documents filed in court, De Jong’s alleged offending spanned from August 2018 to May 2023.

He is accused of unlawfully obtaining more than $4.6m.

The alleged offending took place at Laverton North, and involved the creation of false dockets

Neither De Jong nor his co-accused, Abernethy, have entered pleas.

Infrabuild has a steel recycling depot, furnace and its corporate headquarters in Laverton North.

The court on Monday heard investigators and forensic accountants were still working through “complex” business records and would take months to finalise the evidence in their case.

Detectives were expected to allege Abernethy was the first to start offending, before De Jong subsequently joined him.

The two men have been charged separately, but their case is expected to be merged in coming months.

De Jong is scheduled to next return to court in May, while Abernethy will return to court in March.