Mark James Whelan (38), formerly of Auckland, operating as an MTF franchise, faces 25 individual charges and 41 joint charges under the Crimes Act of "obtaining by deception" loans worth $4.9 million. Six others also faced Crimes Act charges in the Auckland District Court yesterday.
When contacted, Dunedin-based MTF managing director Angus Bradshaw said the SFO charges laid yesterday were a "successful outcome" and now the issue was "in recovery mode". He declined to estimate what proportion of the funds might be recovered.
"This [alleged fraud] was picked up in a normal review of loans. We took it to the Serious Fraud Office at that point," Mr Bradshaw said.
He said "full provision" had been made for the loss, which would be revealed in November when MTF's full-year accounts were released. He said the provision was less than the $4.9 million of loans under question.
Last November, MTF, which has 23 franchises, posted an after-tax profit of $5.3 million for the year, down on $8.8 million a year earlier, while new loans were down to $267 million, from $288 million.
Mr Whelan is accused of obtaining loans totalling $4.9 million, in the names of family and friends, using non-existent assets as security, and then using them for "personal gain ... purchase of land, servicing of personal debts and investing in a futures trading scheme", SFO chief executive Adam Feeley said in a statement yesterday.
Mr Whelan was a retailer dealer for MTF, and then became a franchisee in January 2008. Loans he wrote began defaulting early in 2009. The SFO began its investigation in September 2010.
"These individuals have allegedly colluded together to defraud MTF, to the detriment of the business," Mr Feeley said.
The six others facing charges are Richard Michael Barnett (43), 16 charges; Jonathan Earle Chiswell (35), three charges; Clark Antony Lewis (35), six charges; Brett Royce Donaldson (49), seven charges; Steward Travis Saunders (42), one charge; and Carl Sean Toussaint (40), five charges. Chiswell, Lewis and Whelan face a further three joint charges.
