Gurraj Singh Bhachu pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court last September. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
A man has been sentenced to nine months' home detention after obtaining more than $2 million through mortgage fraud.
Gurraj Singh Bhachu pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court last September to 12 charges relating to four properties.
The Serious Fraud Office said he faked documents relating to business income and cash gifts, and gave false information to banks and property lawyers to get bank loans totalling $2,862,650 for three residential properties.
"He also made false representations to obtain control of residential properties, either for himself or others."
Bhachu left the country in 2019, and was arrested and charged when he returned in December 2023.
Serious Fraud Office Director, Karen Chang, said deliberately providing false information to banks for a mortgage undermined the integrity of the lending system.
"The banks were misled in a number of ways, including the financial position of the borrower and the level of risk to the bank. This affects the ability of hard-working New Zealanders to obtain lending for their own homes," she said.
The Serious Fraud Office has charged six others in the same case, claiming they were part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain credit and properties.
Bhachu was the second to be sentenced after Francis Peters, who was sentenced in August 2024 to nine months and two weeks' home detention for four charges of obtaining by deception.
The group is alleged to have obtained more than $8.6 million in lending, and tried to get a further $2.9m.
Charges have also been filed against Christopher Peters, Robert Peters, Gerard Peters and Serene Peters for obtaining $1.8m by deception in an alleged investment fraud, the Serious Fraud Office said.
"Christopher and Robert Peters have also been charged with obtaining those funds by forgery as an alternative charge," it said.
Those two were expected to face trial in February, while trial dates for the other defendants had not been set.
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