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    ANZ bank manager jailed after thieving $5 million

    Yahoo!7 Finance – Wed, Oct 31, 2012

    Taking home around $150,000 wasn’t enough for an ANZ bank manager who stole more than $5 million and spent it on luxury cars, homes and shares.

    When an internal investigation revealed the missing millions last year and lead to Michael Phan, the 29 year old bank manager initially claimed he had taken the money to provide for his parents.

    Phan claimed that after losing his parents retirement savings through bad investments he had been secretly trying to recoup the losses.

    It appears however that a County Court judge did not accept Phan’s explanation and handed down a sentence of at least four years in jail for the ‘well planned, systematic’ crimes.

    Judge Saccardo commented that the purchase of two luxury cars worth more than $200,000 had made it difficult for him to believe that recouping his parent’s savings was Phan’s sole objective in the scam.

    "Your offending also involved some activities which were motivated by a desire to have access to the trappings of wealth, and basking in the recognition of your family and, no doubt, peers that you were a shrewd and successful investor," he said.

    Judge Saccardo found that Phan’s fraud involved setting up and approving false loans of up to $1.5 million for his own use. Phan forged colleagues’ signatures and used their personal details to help gain approval for the loans he would later use.

    Related: Texan faces up to 300 years in prison in a $20 million fraud

    Over a period of 4 years between 2006 and 2010, Phan plundered more than $5 million from ANZ through eight different transactions of between $130,000 and $1.5 million.

    Phan had pleaded guilty to six charges of theft and two of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

    The sentence handed down to Phan means he must serve at least four of the six-year jail term before being eligible for parole.

    While the liquidation of assets and the recovery of money from various accounts returned much of the stolen money, Phan still owes the ANZ more than $500,000.

    He is currently repaying his debts in $100 weekly payments.

    Related: ANZ posts $5.7b profit, warns tougher times ahead