A married couple has been deported from Australia after defrauding banks for loans totalling $9,027,833.51.
A married couple has been deported from Australia after defrauding banks for loans totalling $9,027,833.51.
An Australian lending manager and her husband conned banks into loaning them more than $9 million which they then used to develop a significant property portfolio. But after being caught, they were both jailed and have now been banished to New Zealand.
Shanshan Mao had been living across the ditch for almost a decade when she was imprisoned in March last year for three years.
The 42-year-old, however, was paroled on September 11 and ordered to reside at the immigration detention centre, where she will remain until she boards a plane for New Zealand.
A decision released this week by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia set out her plea to remain in the country she has called home since 2014, and the offending that has seen her forced out.
It said that Mao, who was born in China, moved to New Zealand in 2001 to undertake tertiary study after her partner, Shaoijing Niu, commenced his own studies in New Zealand a year earlier.
The couple, who both studied business and economics, married in 2003, had four children and went on to become New Zealand citizens.
While living in New Zealand, the couple purchased and renovated three homes. Mao worked as a banker for around eight years, and Niu started his own business as a locksmith.
In January 2014, the family migrated to Australia for “improved career opportunities”.
Mao went on to work at Westpac Bank for about eight months and then as a loan manager with ANZ Bank between September 2014 and November 2018, and Niu picked up work as a locksmith.
But the decision said that soon after arriving in Australia, the couple had also commenced a “criminal enterprise”.
They lodged multiple bank loan applications to secure funding for property investment and development projects.
The case was heard by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia.
The applications provided false information about Niu’s employment, assets, and liabilities, and a corporate entity was established through which some property transactions passed.
The scheme was discovered by an ANZ Bank investigator, following which Mao’s employment with the bank was terminated.
In February 2019, unexplained wealth restraining orders were made over seven properties and three bank accounts held by the couple.
Five months later, they both pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria to eight counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The court found the total financial advantage obtained by the pair was $9,027,833.51.
The funds, used to purchase properties, refinance existing loans and build units in Melbourne, were derived by “using outright lies, deliberate omissions and fraudulent documents”.
In addition to Mao’s imprisonment, Niu was jailed for two years and four months and a co-offender, who provided fraudulent employment documents for Niu, was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment.
While in prison, both Mao and Niu’s visas were mandatorily cancelled under section 501 of the Australian Migration Act.
Niu went on to unsuccessfully appeal the decision and on September 13 he was deported back to New Zealand where he currently lives with Mao’s parents.
Despite her husband’s deportation, Mao appealed against the decision to cancel her visa in a late September hearing before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia.
Mao told the tribunal she had been the director of the company established for the property transactions, and that her work as a banker gave her insight into the criteria applied in deciding loan applications.
But she claimed the other co-offender gave Niu the idea for the criminal enterprise, which the sentencing court did not accept, and minimised her knowledge of the scheme, despite her signature being on the loan applications.
However, the decision, released on Monday, said the court found Mao’s criminal and moral culpability significant.
“No meaningful distinction was made between her conduct and that of Mr Niu, given that both signed fraudulent applications and benefits flowed to them as partners.”
Mao told the tribunal she was a low risk of reoffending, had undergone therapy and had learned a “tremendous lesson” through her incarceration.
She said her four children wanted to remain in Australia and if she was deported to New Zealand, the three younger children, who are all school-aged, would be forced to relocate with her.
Mao also stated that due to her husband’s parole conditions in New Zealand, he was not allowed to communicate with his co-offenders, meaning she would not be able to live with her parents in New Zealand, as he was.
But the tribunal affirmed the decision to revoke Mao’s visa, finding that any impediments she would face in returning to New Zealand were not insurmountable.
The decision said her criminal conduct was serious, and her recidivism risk was more than remote as she had yet to fully come to terms with her offending and has unmet rehabilitation needs.
It could also be reasonably inferred the children would adjust to life in New Zealand, the decision stated.
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff where she covered crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
