Forum Finance boss Bill Papas to face Westpac fraud allegations in court on Friday

Forum Finance and its chief, soccer identity Bill Papas, will square off against Westpac in the Federal Court on Friday on serious fraud allegations.

Westpac will seek to appoint a provisional liquidator to Forum on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Christian Gilles

Forum Finance and its chief, soccer identity Bill Papas, will square off against Westpac in the Federal Court on Friday on serious fraud allegations, with attention focused on whether Mr Papas will join remotely.

Westpac is making submissions to the Federal Court and seeking to appoint a provisional liquidator to Forum, slated to be McGrathNicol via partner Jason Ireland and chairman Jason Preston. Societe Generale will also front the court in the joint hearing against Forum and Mr Papas.

Forum and Mr Papas’s barristers on Wednesday were arguing that provisional liquidation was unnecessary given there were asset freezing orders already in place relating to Forum and Mr Papas, but Judge Michael Lee would not delay Friday’s hearing.

Westpac has taken civil legal action against leasing group Forum and Mr Papas, whose full name is Basile Papadimitriou, relating to alleged fraud and a gross exposure to the bank of $294m. The after-tax amount is $200m, and will cause a 3 per cent dent in Westpac’s earnings, according to analyst estimates.

Societe Generale has launched separate court action relating to allegations of fraud against Forum in the amount of $9m. Both actions include alleged forgery, missing goods and discrepancies in customer leasing and bank accounts.

Mr Papas – who is yet to outline his defence to the court – was until last Friday evening the president of Sydney Olympic Football Club and last year bought Greek soccer team Xanthi FC.

The return of Mr Papas to Australia to face the fraud allegations, including those levelled by Westpac, has also been in question given inquiries made about his flight itinerary.

Mr Papas’s solicitor Rocco Panetta told the court on Wednesday his client was committed to returning to Australia to confront the serious fraud allegations and would arrive on Saturday.

“I understand he’s in Europe and in transit making his way back to Australia … I understand he was in Greece, I don’t know where he is now. I think he is moving to other countries to make his way back here,” Mr Panetta told the court.

“He sent me a screenshot of his booking, his flight booking … He’s (Mr Papas) said to be (flying) Japan Airways from Dubai to Sydney coming back Saturday.

“It says on this itinerary from Athens.”

Forum Finance boss Bill Papas.

When asked about the flight numbers and times, Mr Panetta said the screenshot did not include those details of Mr Papas’s flights.

Mr Panetta declined to comment on Thursday, and Mr Papas did not respond to calls and messages.

The Australian has conducted numerous searches of Japan Airlines flights online and also contacted the airline, with no evidence flights from Athens to Dubai and then to Sydney are available or occurring in coming days.

If Mr Papas was to fly via Dubai and Tokyo to Sydney, the only Japan Airlines flight for the last leg of the journey would arrive in Australia on Sunday. He may also be on a Japan Airlines flight from Athens to London on Friday and transit from there with another airline.

The Australian is not suggesting Mr Papas’s itinerary doesn’t exist, just that there are questions surrounding its contents.

On Wednesday, Justice Michael Lee noted “curious aspects” of Mr Panetta’s statements and highlighted Mr Papas had already missed several court deadlines. He said Mr Papas could engage with the court electronically on Friday to convey arguments in his defence, or on the appointment of provisional liquidators.

“Presently the solicitor understands that Mr Papas has an intention to return and this intention has been confirmed by somebody described as his girlfriend,” the judge added.

“But we are left at present in the position that Mr Papas is somewhere in Europe, yet refuses to tell even his solicitor his location.

“There is a time difference of seven hours, I think it’s seven hours, between Sydney and Athens. If Mr Papas’s intention is to get on an aeroplane in Athens … it seems to me more likely than not by use of technology that Mr Papas could observe proceedings by way of the Microsoft Teams technology or secure some sort of telephone link.”

Mr Papas and Forum’s separate legal representation failed on Wednesday in attempts to delay the appointment of provision liquidators and Friday’s hearing.

Justice Lee also made an order restraining Forum representatives “from deleting or altering” – other than in the normal course of business – any data held on servers that may be relevant to the case.

On Wednesday, Mr Panetta said Mr Papas would not divulge his exact location.

“He wouldn’t tell me exactly where,” Mr Panetta told the court. “His girlfriend … is the one I think assisted to book that return (to Australia).”

Questions started being raised about Mr Papas’s whereabouts when he failed to attend a meeting in Perth in mid-June to address concerns about discrepancies with a Forum client’s account. At the time, court documents say, Mr Papas cited a health emergency for his non-attendance.

Mr Papas is set to return on Saturday after weeks of absence from Australia.

However, his house in Rozelle Sydney is now locked with padlocks affixed to gates and the mail has been collected.

The house was searched as part of efforts by Westpac to determine the scope of the alleged fraud, with an iPad and laptop seized.

Documents, relating to the Rozelle house, also show a development application was lodged for renovations and a roller door for the existing carport.