Iliopoulos jailed for 11 years for assisting in defrauding Commonwealth Bank of $33.5 million
Former CEO of the collapsed Viking transport group Steve Iliopoulos has been jailed for 11 years for his role in conning the Commonwealth Bank out of $33.5 million and attempted defraud of another Australian bank.
The Victorian Supreme Court had earlier found Iliopoulos guilty of 12 charges of fraud and another former Viking manager Vasilis Bariamis guilty of three dishonesty offences.
Today, Justice Stephen Kaye said the former Viking chief financial officer Loukia Bariamis, wife of Vasilis, was the mastermind in the multimillion dollar fraud.
She was jailed in 2013 for six years after pleading guilty to deception charges.
According to media reports, Loukia Bariamis provided evidence against Iliopoulos and her husband Vasilis at the trial.
The judge said Loukia Bariamis and Iliopoulos were equally culpable of the fraud – the former for cooking the books and presenting falsified information to the bank and the latter for approving the scam.
However, Vasilis Bariamis was found to have played a lesser role in fraud.
The court also found Iliopoulos guilty of attempting to defraud $53 million out of Westpac bank.
Iliopoulos will spend at least seven years in jail before being eligible for parole.
Both men have been in custody since May this year.