A Malayali who committed a huge financial fraud in Australia was jailed. Joseph Biju, a Malayali from Kavilpurayat, has been jailed by an Australian court in a fraud case. The court sentenced him to two years, eight months and 13 days in prison and one year, five months and 26 days in prison without parole. He was a construction contractor in Adelaide, Australia. The court has now found that Joseph Biju has committed financial fraud with 18 people through fraud.
It is also said that dishonest transactions were made. They were tempted to give houses to people including Malayalees at a fixed price and then manipulated the documents for financial gain. There were cases in the court that the defendant had committed frauds up to 5 million dollars. But his lawyer asked the court to suspend the prison sentence or allow him to spend under house arrest.
The defendant told the court that he might pay damages of $25,000 per year, over 12 years, not to exceed $300,000. But the court rejected this argument. The court observed that he should remain in jail and that he had not offered sufficient compensation to avoid punishment. Biju received money from his clients by issuing fake invoices for work that was never done and then received money from banks. The court said that fake insurance certificates were also made for the clients’ houses.
Crimes of a dishonest nature are heinous and the victims of your crime are your native country or your own community, the court pointed out to Biju. The court also told Biju that you cheated the people of your own country who trusted you in the name of building a house. The District Court in South Australia said the defendant had intentions to deceive clients.
The judge said that instead of admitting his wrongdoings, the accused turned to dishonest crime to increase the company’s money and profits. Accused Joseph Biju forged invoices and insurance certificates for some houses constructed by his company Fenbreeze Homes in Kavilpurayat. After being caught, he confessed to the police that he had committed fraud in 18 cases. Australian media also reported that the accused confessed to the crime.
