A group behind a bungled attempt to scam millions of dollars from a major bank have avoided jail while they are assessed to potentially serve their sentences via home detention. The ringleader behind the plot, ex-senior NAB employee Monika Singh, 42, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on Monday in the NSW District Court. Co-accused Davendar Deo, 68, and Srinivas Naidu Chamakuri, 51, were given two-and-a-half years and three years respectively.
However, Judge Donna Woodburne said Corrective Services should assess if they can serve their sentences through periods of home detention and community service work. Judge Woodburne made it clear she was not imposing intensive corrections orders on the group and would finalise the matters at a later date. The group were found guilty by a jury of attempting to steal more than $20 million from the bank using i nternal employee processes. The trio were convicted of 19 fraud-related offences between 2018 and 2020, including multiple counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage.
A jury accepted Singh had provided Chamakuri and Deo with blank internal bank vouchers, which they then used to try to cheat NAB out of a combined $21million. Monika Singh avoided a previous fraud conviction while she was an NAB graduate trainee Davendar Deo was convicted of trying to defraud NAB out of $4.8 million using the voucher scheme Chamakuri attempted to use the vouchers to withdraw almost $16.9million in cash, while Deo was convicted for trying to cheat NAB out of a further $4.8million using the same fraudulent voucher scheme. NAB did not lose any money as staff intervened to prevent the funds being transferred. Judge Woodburne did not accept that stress, including Singh's claimed childhood trauma, caused her offending and said her conduct should be firmly denounced.
The former senior associate at NAB's Sydney branch, attempted to argue she had 'naively trying to help people without fully understanding the implications,' the court was told. Having migrated to Australia from Fiji in 2001 when she was 20 years old, Singh was charged with a previous fraud offence in Queensland in 2006 and ordered to pay $1751 with no conviction recorded. At the time she was also employed by NAB as a graduate trainee. Srinivas Naidu Chamakuri walked from court after being handed a three-year jail sentence Lawyers for all three previously called for leniency in sentencing given that the offending was relatively unsophisticated and ultimately doomed to fail.
Todd Pickering, who was representing Singh, described the group's efforts as 'inept, hopeless and ultimately unsuccessful'. 'The efforts here were very, very far short of sophisticated,' he told the court. However, scam crown prosecutor Andrew Norrie said there was some level of sophistication given that they would not have been able to attempt it without access to internal NAB documents. 'It cannot just be written off,' he said.
However, Judge Donna Woodburne said Corrective Services should assess if they can serve their sentences through periods of home detention and community service work. Judge Woodburne made it clear she was not imposing intensive corrections orders on the group and would finalise the matters at a later date. The group were found guilty by a jury of attempting to steal more than $20 million from the bank using i nternal employee processes. The trio were convicted of 19 fraud-related offences between 2018 and 2020, including multiple counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage.
A jury accepted Singh had provided Chamakuri and Deo with blank internal bank vouchers, which they then used to try to cheat NAB out of a combined $21million. Monika Singh avoided a previous fraud conviction while she was an NAB graduate trainee Davendar Deo was convicted of trying to defraud NAB out of $4.8 million using the voucher scheme Chamakuri attempted to use the vouchers to withdraw almost $16.9million in cash, while Deo was convicted for trying to cheat NAB out of a further $4.8million using the same fraudulent voucher scheme. NAB did not lose any money as staff intervened to prevent the funds being transferred. Judge Woodburne did not accept that stress, including Singh's claimed childhood trauma, caused her offending and said her conduct should be firmly denounced.The former senior associate at NAB's Sydney branch, attempted to argue she had 'naively trying to help people without fully understanding the implications,' the court was told. Having migrated to Australia from Fiji in 2001 when she was 20 years old, Singh was charged with a previous fraud offence in Queensland in 2006 and ordered to pay $1751 with no conviction recorded. At the time she was also employed by NAB as a graduate trainee. Srinivas Naidu Chamakuri walked from court after being handed a three-year jail sentence Lawyers for all three previously called for leniency in sentencing given that the offending was relatively unsophisticated and ultimately doomed to fail.
Todd Pickering, who was representing Singh, described the group's efforts as 'inept, hopeless and ultimately unsuccessful'. 'The efforts here were very, very far short of sophisticated,' he told the court. However, scam crown prosecutor Andrew Norrie said there was some level of sophistication given that they would not have been able to attempt it without access to internal NAB documents. 'It cannot just be written off,' he said.