A former St George Bank worker allegedly hid behind fictitious identities including a woman called “Rochelle Starlet” as part of an elaborate scam on financial institutions involving fraudulent loan applications, a Sydney court has heard.
Sara Daizli, a former customer service specialist at St George Bank’s Bankstown branch, is standing trial in the NSW District Court on 90 fraud-related charges including dealing with almost $1 million in proceeds of crime. The judge-alone trial started on Monday.
Sara Daizli arrives at the NSW District Court on Monday for the start of her fraud trial.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Daizli, also known as Sara Sukkar, is accused of directing the activities of a criminal group that submitted fraudulent loan and credit applications to ANZ and the Westpac group. The loans totalled more than $1 million.
Daizli has pleaded not guilty to each of the charges.
The court heard Daizli worked for St George, part of the Westpac group, between March 2015 and January 2018 before setting up a business called Dr Finance Specialist in 2019.
The Crown alleges the scam began when she was running Dr Finance.
Delivering his opening address to the court, Crown prosecutor Peter Lowe said Daizli charged Dr Finance clients “a success fee for credit and loan facility applicants, taking a cut of anywhere between 15 to 20 per cent of the monies advanced by financial institutions”.
Lowe alleged Daizli concealed her identity in preparing false documents that were ultimately submitted to the banks in support of the loans.
“At no stage was Ms Daizli or Dr Finance identified as a relevant provider of the loan application or credit facility application,” he said.
Lowe said the court would be taken to a series of WhatsApp messages between Daizli and two accountants in which she provided “explicit directions” about preparing false documents.
“At the very heart of the fraudulent activity with which Ms Daizli was involved was the use of false tax documents which were submitted to financial institutions,” Lowe said.
Those documents were used by the banks to assess whether the applicant was likely to be able to service the credit or loan facility. The banks would suffer a loss if they could not.
“The Crown says that is what happened in this case,” Lowe said. “A variety of different loans were taken out; loan or credit facilities were approved.”
He said the individuals or companies in whose name the loan or credit facilities were approved were “not able to, or did not want to, pay off the amount”.
The ‘Starlet’ emails
A woman known as “Rochelle Starlet” appeared to have sent emails both to Daizli and the banks, Lowe said, but police had carried out an investigation and “there are no traces” of Starlet apart from the emails.
He alleged Starlet was a “fictitious person” and the police investigation would not support any conclusion that Daizli was “an innocent dupe” of her.
Sara Daizli arriving at the Downing Centre District Court on February 3.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
He said two other “fictitious individuals”, Melissa Ronivoukic and Anthony Zane Barbar, had bank accounts opened in their names “and it is through these accounts that large amounts of monies were channelled as part of the fraud perpetrated on the banks”. He said Daizli was behind those fictitious personas.
The alleged impersonations
Lowe also alleged Daizli was captured in recorded phone calls impersonating St George Bank employees to “escalate” some applications.
“The deception practised by Ms Daizli did not end with the submission of a credit or loan application supported by false tax documents,” Lowe said.
“After submission of the applications at St George Bank, she would ring up the bank … impersonating a current bank employee using the employee’s own name and staff salary number in order to … ensure prompt payment of the loan.”
The court heard Sara Daizli requested $536,150 to refinance an investment property.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
He alleged Daizli “used her own experience as a customer service specialist at St George to ensure that her deception was not detected”.
“She knew how the system operated,” Lowe said. “There are no corresponding calls to the ANZ bank.”
The basis for the escalation included claims the money was needed for a funeral or medical expenses, he said.
Lowe said Daizli appeared to have started using false tax documents in late 2019 to obtain refinancing of her own property via the Commonwealth Bank, and is charged in relation to that $616,300 loan.
The court heard she requested $536,150 to refinance her investment property at Denham Court, in Sydney’s south-west, and a further $80,150 to pay her finance for a 2017 black Mercedes-Benz SUV.
Defence barrister Matthew Kalyk will open the defence case at a later date.
The trial before Judge Phillip Mahony continues.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.