NAB broker faces court
A former National Australia Bank employee has faced allegations he falsified dozens of home loan contracts.
Andrew Matthews fronted the Melbourne Magistrates Court for a brief hearing this week, just days after his former employer announced it was clearing house of dodgy mortgage brokers.
Reports say Mr Matthews is accused of convincing dozens of customers to sign a document wrongly claiming they had been referred to NAB through the bank's Introducer Program, allegedly resulting in him pocketing more than $800,000.
The program is designed to reward people who do not work for the bank for referring new customers.
The 36-year-old, who was once NAB's mobile banker of the year for regional Victoria, was sacked from his Melbourne branch when the allegations were first raised in July last year.
Mr Matthews allegedly conspired with another man to split the commissions.
He faces 49 counts of obtaining property by deception, one charge of attempting to obtain property by deception, one of conspiring to defraud and three counts of possessing proceeds of crime including a Ferrari and cash totalling $825,176.
NAB said it immediately reported Mr Matthews to police after it identified the alleged scam through its internal checks and review processes.
It is understood that Mr Matthews was not one of the 20 bankers NAB announced had been sacked last week.
However, the loans that led to the other sacking were reportedly organised through the Introducer Program too.
Mr Matthews will return to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court in February for a committal mention.