NSW: Fraudster jailed for two years

AAP General News (Australia)
02-02-2007
NSW: Fraudster jailed for two years

SYDNEY, Feb 2 AAP - A Sydney restaurant owner will serve at least two years' jail for
a string of identity frauds and swindling more than $100,000 in cheques.

Alex Rusli, 35, was today sentenced to three-and-a-half years with a two-year non-parole
period, backdated to his arrest in August 2005, after pleading guilty to 15 state and
federal identity fraud and immigration offences.

Rusli, who also is known by three other names, admitted to possessing false Australian
passports and NSW driver's licences, as well as false international passports from Indonesia,
the United Kingdom, Korea and France.

He also admitted to possessing forged immigration stamps, Visa labels and birth certificates.

Rusli, whose wife and two young children were present in the NSW District Court today,
also admitted to intercepting cheques totalling more than $113,000 in the mail, and then
using false identities to set up bogus bank accounts in which he deposited the cheques.

Sentencing Rusli, Judge Robyn Tupman said criminal acts such as his contributed to
the increasing of bank fees and paperwork needed to open bank accounts.

"In reality the whole community is disadvantaged as a result," Judge Tupman said.

Rusli will be eligible for parole on August 25 this year.

AAP dmc/was/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: RUSLI

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