Forum figure Vincenzo Tesoriero questioned on disclosures

Vincenzo Tesoriero has flown to Sydney after a Federal Court judge questioned why the Forum figure had failed to appear in person for the Westpac fraud case.

Vincenzo Tesoriero on his way out of the Westpac - Forum Finance case with his partner Sam Ashleigh. Picture: Chris Pavlich for The Australian

Vincenzo Tesoriero, an associate of Forum Group boss Bill Papas, was forced to appear in the Federal Court after months of avoiding the spotlight following the collapse of the company.

While Mr Papas has left the country and is in an unknown location in Greece, Mr Tesoriero is in Australia attempting to have Westpac hand over more money to aid his case against the bank.

Westpac claims Mr Tesoriero was one of the masterminds behind an alleged scam which saw the bank and two others defrauded of almost $500m,

Westpac is attempting to claw back around $300m it alleges that Mr Papas and others close to him obtained from the bank using fake lease contracts.

On Tuesday, Westpac senior counsel Jeremy Giles SC suggested Mr Tesoriero or another person with access to the money was unusually moving funds despite a freezing order on the account.

Mr Giles alleged payments were being made out of accounts – often multiple times a month – seemingly not in accordance with the regular mortgage payments they were alleged to be.

But, Mr Tesoriero, called for the first time to give evidence in the marathon legal case, said the transactions were being made to settle the mortgage, noting it was normal for payments often to be made multiple times a month.

Westpac and Mr Tesoriero are locked in their latest court brawl over the Forum figure’s bid to access $1.8m to fund his case against the bank.

Separately, McGrathNicol liquidators allege Mr Papas and Mr Tesoriero funded lavish lifestyles on the back of the alleged scam. A warrant has been issued for Mr Papas’ arrest after he was found by the Federal Court to have breached the freezing order by transferring $720,000 to his cousin Eric Constantinidis.

Despite telling the court he would return, Mr Papas has failed to return to Australia and has not appointed a lawyer to represent him in his case with Westpac since he was dumped by his last lawyer Rocco Panetta.

Mr Tesoriero said his fight with Westpac has cost him in excess of $780,000 in legal fees.

Westpac and Mr Tesoriero had sparred earlier in July over his application to access further funding for his case, but no decision was reached on his application, with Justice Michael Lee noting he needed a clearer picture of Mr Tesoriero’s assets before making any call.

Westpac had honed in on Mr Tesoriero’s past asset disclosure, noting he had previously failed to declare a boat moored in Florida among other holdings.

Mr Tesoriero had previously submitted an affidavit attesting to assets worth $60.7m across 31 holdings. However, on Tuesday Mr Giles said he had failed to disclose one account with $150,000 in it, asking if Mr Tesoriero wanted Federal Court judge Michael Lee to “take him seriously” in his latest filings.

Mr Tesoriero told the court he did not see the funds as an asset given they were intended to settle the loan payments.

When Mr Tesoriero was asked if he had further undisclosed accounts he told the court “there would be money in other bank accounts, most definitely”.

Westpac also questioned the values of his assets, noting several millions dollars difference between values Mr Tesoriero spruiked to property business contacts vs those he presented to McGrath Nichol liquidators.

The hearing in Sydney came after Mr Tesoriero was called to appear in person by Justice Lee.

Mr Tesoriero’s representative Paul Hayes QC tuned in to the hearing on Monday morning from Melbourne, but Justice Lee questioned why he and his client were not appearing in person.

In February, Mr Tesoriero failed in an attempt to stop the sale of two luxury properties outside of Sydney which were owned by him through a trust. That is despite McGrathNicol having told him in early December about the proposed sale.

The hearing continues.

Originally published as Forum figure Vincenzo Tesoriero questioned on disclosures