A Sydney IT consultant has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a failed scheme that tried to defraud $21 million from NAB.
Srinivas Naidu Chamakuri, 51 years old, was sentenced at Downing Centre District Court on Monday after being found guilty late last year of being involved with a scheme that tried to use fake bank vouchers to defraud NAB.
He was sentenced to three years imprisonment but referred for assessment of eligibility for a home detention sentence and community service order.
Former NAB employee Monika Singh was also sentenced to three years imprisonment for her involvement with the same scheme.
Judge Donna Woodburne said that Singh had demonstrated a “continuation of dishonest conduct” with Chamakuri and another man who was also found guilty, former mortgage broker Davendar Deo.
Fake vouchers
The trio were convicted of 19 charges relating to the scheme from 2018 to 2020, including multiple counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage.
“While each played different roles they were all involved in the same criminal enterprise,” the judge said.
Their scheme involved the use of fake internal bank vouchers, which work similarly to cheques.
The court found that Singh had provided Chamakuri with blank bank vouchers, and he then asked someone he knew to fill them out and deposit them.
Through this method, the pair attempt to withdraw nearly $16.9 million in cash.
Former NAB IT consultant Srinivas Naidu Chamakuri shields his face from reporters. Photo: Channel 9
Singh also employed a similar method to try to obtain $4.8 million in partnership with Deo, the court found.
Neither attempt resulted in any money being obtained, with NAB staff intervening to block the funds being transferred.
Chamakuri and Singh were also found guilty of using fraudulent bank guarantees to buy property in exchange for commissions.
While all three of those charged have been referred for potential home detention, the judge said that jail time was still a possibility.
A lack of remorse
The judge found that all three defendants had lacked genuine remorse to some degree.
“Each have significant personal circumstances worthy of weight in the determination of an appropriate sentence,” Woodburne said.
While Chamakuri told the court he was “truly remorseful for the position” he found himself in, the judge said this wasn't him taking full responsibility for his actions.
Outside the court, Chamakuri denied responsibility for the scheme.
“I didn’t do anything,” Chamakuri said. “There’s no money lost. It’s only framed.”
When asked who framed him, Chamakuri said, “I don’t want to comment on that one.”
Meanwhile, Singh was found to have “misused her position as an employee with NAB”.
“[There was] disregard for the trust that had been placed in her by her employer to engage in fraudulent offending by her and her co-offenders,” Woodburne said.
Chamakuri has been released on conditional bail and will return to court in March, where it will be decided whether he will be allowed to serve his sentence at home.