Monday hearing in a multi-million fraud case against Steve Iliopoulos, ended up with threats, that Iliopoulos’ ex-wife addressed to the key witness Loukia Bariamis.
Emma Iliopoulos, seated behind Bariamis in the courtroom, allegedly told her, “I’m going to get you, no matter what,” before living the courtroom and being stopped by police.
On suggestion of Defence barrister David Grace, QC, Justice Kevin Bell banned Ms Iliopoulos from returning to the courtroom.
The threats for Ms Bariamis come after she has already been threatened several times in the maximum security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women’s prison.
The threats are now being investigated by prison authorities and police.
The Viking Group, the major trucking company of 20 transport and logistics companies, went into liquidation in 2011. Ms Bariamis, than chief financial officer of the company, had produced fraudulent documentation which the Commonwealth Bank relied on to loan Viking more than $52 million in 2010.
The fraud cost Commonwealth Bank a total of $48 million. Bariamis, of Glen Waverley, has admitted to falsifying loan documents in 2009 and 2010 which netted the company a total of $33 million.
The case of $48 million fraud also involved three other Greek Australians. The company’s director and a man with links to the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang, Steve Iliopoulos, 52, of Point Cook, and his son Peter Iliopoulos, 24, of Sanctuary Lakes, have also been charged, as well as Bariamis’ husband Vassilis Bariamis, 51, of Glen Waverley.
Loukia Bariamis is serving a four-year sentence on a separate matter for defrauding the Australian Taxation Office of $1.8 million.
Mr Iliopoulos and his son, Peter, have been charged over the alleged multi-million dollar fraud.
Justice Bell said he would sentence Ms Bariamis on a date to be announced.
Source: The Age