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Aussie Home Loans has welcomed ASIC’s action against banned mortgage broker Bernard Meehan.
ASIC yesterday announced that Mr Meehan, a former Aussie Home Loans mortgage broker, has been permanently banned from engaging in credit activities after an ASIC investigation found that he had submitted “false or materially misleading” loan documents to Westpac Bank over the 12 months to January 2015.
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Aussie Home Loans issued a statement in response to ASIC’s action, explaining that in February 2015 the major brokerage identified potential breaches of its strict code of conduct and legal, credit and compliance obligations by the broker.
“Mr Meehan’s contract was immediately suspended on 25 February 2015, while a detailed internal investigation was conducted,” Aussie Home Loans said in a statement.
“The investigation confirmed discrepancies and false documents were used in loan applications made by Mr Meehan. Mr Meehan’s contract was terminated on 6 March 2015,” it said.
Aussie voluntarily reported Mr Meehan to ASIC and to the MFAA. Aussie then fully co-operated with resulting investigations, by providing results of the internal investigation and other evidence to assist in prosecution.
“In this case, as with all investigations, Aussie has been fully anticipating ASIC’s verdict and welcomes the charges,” the group said.
“As part of its governance activity, Aussie proactively and voluntarily reports any serious breaches of broker conduct to ASIC. Aussie has a zero tolerance policy to any infringements and prides itself on upholding some of the most stringent compliance processes in the industry.”
Mr Meehan is the fourth Aussie Home Loans mortgage broker who has been permanently banned and/or convicted over the past 18 months for submitting false or misleading documents in loan applications. The other three mortgage brokers were:
• Mr Madhvan Nair – convicted on 18 charges involving the submission of false or misleading information to Westpac, NAB, and ANZ.
• Ms Emma Feduniw – convicted and permanently banned for providing false documents in eight loan applications to Westpac.
• Mr Shiv Prakash Sahay – convicted and permanently banned for providing false documents in loan applications for 17 of his clients to Bankwest and Suncorp Metway Limited.
[Related: Mortgage broker cops permanent ban]
