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A former director of a Sydney financial services company has pleaded guilty to one count of making false documents and one count of using false documents.
Wael Kourieh, who was a director of Nexus Financial Planning Pty Ltd (trading as Hillross Bella Vista) from 8 June 2010 until 14 March 2016, entered the plea in Parramatta Local Court on Friday (9 July).
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According to the financial services regulator, between 1 September and 10 November 2015, Nexus purchased a client book for SuperLeader, an AMP superannuation product, where employers and employees could become members.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges that Nexus received commissions from AMP in relation to each member in the client book.
The regulator alleges that Mr Kourieh was responsible for “generating new business and administering the SuperLeader client book”.
It says that between these two months in 2015, Mr Kourieh “made false documents by forging 30 member signatures on AMP superannuation investment election forms with the intention of inducing AMP employees to accept them as genuine to obtain a financial advantage, namely commissions from AMP”.
It further alleges that he “used false documents ... knowing them to be false, intending they be used to induce AMP employees to accept them as genuine, to obtain a financial advantage, namely commissions from AMP”.
Mr Kourieh pleaded guilty to one count of making false documents and one count of using false documents under the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) in the Parramatta Local Court of NSW.
The maximum penalty for the offences is a two-year prison sentence and/or an $11,000 fine.
The matter is listed for sentencing on 6 August.
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