Australian Bank given permission to take court action in Greece against Bill Papas

Westpac has won approval from an Australian court to launch legal action in Greece to execute freezing orders over the international assets of alleged fraudster Bill Papas.

The Federal Court approved the bank’s request amid concerns the Greek Australian soccer identity has hidden away tens of millions of dollars in the country.

Mr Papas resides in Greece with his girlfriend Louisa Agostino in the port town of Thessaloniki in his waterfront apartment after he flew out from Australia days before Westpac and two other lenders, Société Générale and Sumitomo, filed Federal Court civil action charging him and his company Forum Finance of orchestrating a $500 million fraud against the banks by forging signatures of executives at the banks’ blue-chip clients to secure loans.