Key Witness Threatened in Supreme Court

According to the Age, Loukia Bariamis, the key witness in a multi-million dollar fraud case against Steve Iliopoulos, a man with links to the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang, has allegedly been threatened by his ex-wife in the Supreme Court.

Bariamis was sitting in the dock on Monday after Justice Kevin Bell had briefly left the bench when Emma Iliopoulos, who had been seated behind her in the courtroom, allegedly told her twice, “I’m going to get you, no matter what.” Iliopoulos then left the courtroom and then she was stopped by the police.

Defense barrister David Grace, QC, asked that Iliopoulos be banned from returning to the courtroom and Justice Bell agreed. Iliopoulos was then allowed to leave the court building.

Bariamis, 52, a mother of two who has pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception involving $33.55 million from the Commonwealth Bank when she was the failed Viking Group’s chief financial officer, had earlier been in tears when Mr Grace revealed she had been threatened in prison.

Mr Grace told the court the threats made to Bariamis in the maximum security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women’s prison were now being investigated by prison authorities and police. The threats, including one as recently as Sunday, had the potential to cause deterioration in Bariamis’s mental health knowing the danger she was in.

Mr Grace said that previous hearings held in the Melbourne Magistrates Court had been told there were concerns that  Iliopoulos could interfere with witnesses in the case.

Iliopoulos had connections with the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang, Mr Grace said. He said Iliopoulos and the Comancheros had allegedly been involved in concealing Viking’s assets to the company’s liquidator and other authorities.

Bariamis, who is being held in protective custody, was jailed for four years in June over a separate matter where she claimed more than $1.8 million in fake refunds from the Tax Office and then gambled most of it away.

Crown prosecutor Susan Borg had earlier told the court Bariamis was part of the executive management team at Viking, a major trucking and transport company which collapsed in 2011. Other members of the team included Steve Iliopoulos, who was the chief executive, his son, Peter, and Bariamis’ husband, Bill.

Bariamis had produced fraudulent documentation which the Commonwealth Bank relied on to loan Viking more than $52 million in 2010. When the fraud was exposed, the Commonwealth Bank lost a total of $48 million but the amount  Bariamis was directly involved in was $33.55 million.

Iliopoulos and his son, Peter, have been charged over the alleged multi-million dollar fraud.