Bus driver's homes worth $3m in scam, court told

Photo / Steven MicNicholl

A bus driver who earned $48,000 a year bought more than $3 million worth of real estate after being caught up in an alleged elaborate scam.

The driver, Suresh Nagpal, owned a $500,000 Mt Eden property when he met a 38-year-old man who is now charged with two counts of deceiving banks into lending money on residential properties.

The accused man, a former real estate agent, is on trial in the Auckland District Court. His name is suppressed.

The Crown's case is that the defendant applied for mortgages in other people's names using fake income and debt details. He then used part of the finance to fund subdivisions and property development.

Mr Nagpal told the court that he bought a $920,000 Hillsborough property and a $1.75 million property in Kohimarama on the same day in 2007.

Mr Nagpal's wife earned between $49,000 and $50,000 a year and he rented part of his Mt Eden home out for $280 a week. Both figures had been inflated on his mortgage application.

Mr Nagpal said he paid a $30,000 deposit but it was the accused man who met the mortgage payments. He said he signed the documents, which he was told were "official formalities".

Solo mother Cheryl Graham told the court the defendant offered her a job as a project manager.

She declined the job but was contacted again and asked if she would like to put her name to a property, with the accused and his business partner making the mortgage payments.

In return, she was offered $10,000.

Ms Graham said the deal went through but a few weeks later the mortgage payments stopped. "Within a week I was called by the BNZ."

She said that after selling the house, she still owed the bank $94,000, plus $4000 in fees. Her name was now listed with a debt-collection agency.

Ms Graham said her application form, which the accused filled out, contained an inflated salary and employment period.

The trial continues.