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A Justice of the Peace provided false payslips to banks in a bid to help Vietnamese migrants buy properties that they otherwise could not have secured, a court has heard.
- Lam Duc Vu founded a charity to help Vietnamese migrants secure bank loans
- The bank AFG discontinued dealings with Vu's company after finding he provided fake payslips for clients
- The court heard Vu gained "very little benefit" from his offending
Lam Duc Vu pleaded guilty in the District Court to at least 10 counts of dishonest dealings with documents between 2016 and 2017.
The 73-year-old's lawyer Patrick Dawes told the court his client came to Australia as a refugee and later became a Justice of the Peace to give back to the country that had given him "a new life" and citizenship.
During sentencing submissions on Monday, the court also heard Vu helped found a charity — the Vietnamese Welfare Service — which assisted people in the Vietnamese community complete tax returns and apply for bank loans among other services.
"He knows that he has let down a lot of people and he knows that those, in particular, in the Vietnamese community who trusted him to apply for the loans and follow the law, have been let down by his actions," Mr Dawes told the court.
"Not that it justifies my client's wrongdoing, but in many cases the applicants to the loans have actually had a property that they've lived in and made repayments on that they otherwise wouldn't have had and have now got the benefit of capital gain and the enjoyment of those properties because of the loan."
Mr Dawes told the court Vu gained "very little benefit" from his offending and was now remorseful and had "learned a hard lesson".
Mr Dawes told the court Vu knowingly gave the bank false payslips but he did not create the documents nor did any of the loan applicants.
The court heard AFG terminated its agreement with Vu's company – Ideal Home Loans – after becoming concerned about the legitimacy of the documents provided.
Mr Dawes told the court Vu was a high school teacher in Vietnam before he fled to Australia as a refugee after the communist army took over Saigon.
The court heard he arrived in Australia with just 50 cents and began working in a "mindless" factory job to "better his circumstances".
Mr Dawes asked Judge Paul Muscat to find "good reason" to suspend a prison sentence which the prosecutor did not oppose given Vu had no criminal history and was unlikely to reoffend.
Vu will be sentenced on Friday.