Man convicted of faking computer invoices

A Victorian man has been sentenced to 12 months' gaol for falsifying computer sales invoices that helped a former director of retailer Daswani Group make dishonest loan applications totalling some $10 million.

Southport District Court in Victoria has found that Berwick resident Travis Campbell had created false invoices for computer equipment under instructions from Lakhmi "Lux" Daswani, who was director of Gold Coast consumer goods retailer Daswani Group at the time.

"These invoices were then used to obtain loans from various banks," said the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in a statement. "Campbell then forwarded the proceeds of the false invoices to companies in the Daswani Group."

Those actions would have entailed a total payout by various banks of about $798,000 to Daswani Group companies, ASIC said.

Campbell, 26, pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud brought against him by ASIC and would serve a suspended sentence of 12 months' gaol, ASIC said.

Daswani was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in March 2004 after pleading guilty to 15 counts of dishonestly using his position as a company director.

The Daswani Group director was convicted of 12 criminal code offences of dishonestly inducing various financiers to loan money to companies in the Daswani Group, ASIC said, through the use of false invoices and false contracts of sale.

"The Court found Daswani arranged for money to be removed from the Daswani Group's bank accounts and forwarded to an account in Hawaii," ASIC said. "The value of the loans amounted to over $10 million."

Administrators were appointed to Daswani Group in late September 2000. The group -- which specialised in retailing consumer products, including jewellery and clothing, in Queensland and Victoria -- at that time owed some $30 million in debts, ASIC said.

It was reported at the time that Daswani had fled Australia for Hawaii with his family after the Daswani Group collapsed in late 2000. ASIC had pursued the matter overseas and Daswani eventually stood trial in Australia after being arrested by the FBI in Hawaii in 2003.