Jury retires to consider verdict in Kallakis and Williams fraud case

The jury in the trial of two men accused of defrauding AIB out of £740 million has retired to consider its verdicts.

Achilleas Kallakis and Alexander Williams are accused of defrauding AIB by applying for fake guarantees.

They are also accused of conning the Bank of Scotland, part of the HBOS group, out of €29 million to convert a passenger ferry into a “superyacht”.

Mr Kallakis and Mr Williams both deny both counts.

The six men and six women jurors at Southwark Crown Court in London must decide whether the men actively conspired to defraud the banks.

Unanimous verdicts

Judge Andrew Goymer has said he will only accept unanimous verdicts. He told the jurors before they retired yesterday: “You will decide what you make of the arguments. I will help you read the map correctly but you will decide what the destination may be.”

The alleged deception involving false guarantees was discovered by AIB in autumn 2008, forcing it to sell properties purchased by the men at a loss of “many millions of pounds”, the court previously heard.

Mr Williams and Mr Kallakis are accused of forging the name of Mike Wong, deputy managing director at estate agency Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), on property guarantees and other documents in order to defraud AIB of £740 million in property loans.

Earlier in the case, the court heard Mr Wong, via video link from a Hong Kong courtroom, deny that signatures on the allegedly fake documents were his, just one day after his colleague and supposed co-signatory Walter Kwok had done the same.

Summing up the 10-week trial, Judge Goymer said: “The prosecution say a large number of the false documents are connected in some way to the defendants and [that] their explanations just do not add up.”

“They ask you to take into account the extent of the forgeries, what the defendants were set to gain from them and who else would know about it.

“Mr Temple [prosecuting] said the guarantees are pivotal.Mr Kwok and Mr Wong from SHKP said they did not sign the guarantees and the evidence from Mr Handy, the handwriting expert, supported this. So the question is, did the defendants know about this?

“The prosecution say each of the defendants did use the false and forged documents because they were party to the conspiracy.” However, lawyers representing Mr Kallakis and Mr Williams argued that Mr Wong and Mr Kwok’s denials were a “convenient” cover-up for the failed project.

Judge Goymer continued: “The defence, in particular Mr Carter-Stephenson, says when you look at the evidence in detail it goes nowhere near proving the defendants were party to an agreement to defraud the banks.

“In relation to SHKP, Mr Carter-Stephenson says they are not what they appear to be. He says it is possible that one member of SHKP signed off the deal without the approval of the board.

“Then it was convenient to deny the documents when they became a liability.

“Mr Carter-Stephenson said the delay in returning the paperwork to AIB proves this. He alleges they were playing for time to decide what to do.

Conspiracy

He told the jurors: “If you are not certain the defendants made themselves part of the conspiracy and helped carry it into effect then you must acquit them.

“Or if, after looking over the evidence in a calm and dispassionate way, you find they willingly took part in the conspiracy, you must not fear finding them guilty.”

Mr Kallakis and Mr Williams, both 44, deny conspiracy to defraud, forgery, fraud by false representation, money laundering and obtaining a money transfer by deception.