Mr. Rigg is a friend of our senior supervisor David Johnston and it was through Mr. Johnston that an invitation was extended to Mr. Rigg to attend a seminar conducted at this office by Group Treasury staff on foreign currency lending.  Mr. Rigg was impressed with the obvious expertise the bank has in this area and also trade transactions.  This will be the first simulated borrowing at this office where an exporter has been involved.

I wonder if Mr. Johnston received a commission like other staff did! In one of the submissions to the banking inquiry by a government department it is saying they have had complaints because bank staff had harassed people to take out loans! COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA staff received commissions for selling these loans across Australia. Called performance bonuses, they received incentives to sell fictitious loans with no financial back up. This has compounded the BANK FRAUD. 

The bank manager in Nowra, Mr. John Irwin, told me that the cheapest way to borrow money was a “Simulated Foreign Currency Loan with a Commercial Bill Facility”.  The Commonwealth Bank Treasury held seminars selling Foreign Currency Loans.  Mr. Phil Henshaw, Senior Dealer, Foreign Exchange Department of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, spoke in terms of a simulated borrowing being related to a domestic bill line. What can be worse than our Government Bank staff, selling these loans to their own people, knowing they are a fraud?

The staff of COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA sold “Swiss Franc loans” to the people at 3% to 5%.  Swiss Bankers have confirmed that these loans did not exist. No victim had Swiss Franc Loans but they thought they did. This is part of the deception. Please read the letter from Senator McLean to Turvey, Secretary to the Foreign Borrowers Association. The relevant sentence quoted from Swiss bankers reads,

The Bank Officers in Australia who enticed Australian business people and farmers into Swiss loans in 1984-86 are nothing short of criminals and should be in gaol

The words used, of course, were polite but the message was clear: Australia has an appalling corporate image and investment in our corporate sector is too risky. Magnates come and go with the “support” of irresponsible bankers.  The Swiss Bankers were prepared to give evidence to the Martin Parliamentary Banking Inquiry but were not asked to do so.

We were paying about 50% interest instead of 3% to 5% on a “simulated” Foreign Currency Loan. With the income from our factory units and the profit from our manufacturing and building business we would have had no problem paying the 3 to 5%   interest we were quoted by the bank staff. This loan was sold with a Commercial Bill Facility.  The staff of Commonwealth Bank of Australia forged my wife’s signature on the last commercial bill for $750,000. They would not produce the original document on Subpoena or Notice to Produce.

When we deposited monies into our company account, the COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA staff would remove most of the money from this account even though we needed it to pay our creditors and wages etc. COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA staff would say it was interest and debit our company account which made it almost impossible to stay afloat.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia staff also charged us over $500,000 in “troublesome interest”.  The document reads,

Legal Department are aware of the action and see no problem as it is an internal accounting matter, however no advice is to be provided to the Rigg’s. Apply troublesome interest, do not send bank statements, no advice to Riggs’ and up to 25% interest

Speaking to a young lady recently, she said her grandfather was a COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA manager and her grandmother wanted to open accounts for their grandchildren, her grandfather said,

If you do, I won’t give you any money as the bank staff will steal the money.

Another COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA document reads,

rework bank statements don’t tell Rigg and send to head office

PRELIMINARY NOTES ON BANKING INQUIRY. 30/1/ 1989. WILTON D. WEIR 

The late Wilton D. Weir was a Sydney Accountant in private practice. It is alleged that he corrupted senior officers of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia [C.B.A.] and for some fifteen years co-ordinated corrupt practices by some thirty senior officers. The existence and activities of this syndicate are widely known to the Sydney business community, but denied by COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA

We have been bankrupted on false evidence so we cannot fight. This is democracy Australian style, equality before the law does not exist in Australia. There are two sets of laws in Australia, one for the rich and one for the rest of us.

Today we would have been a major employer and exporter; it has all gone because of BANK FRAUD by Commonwealth Bank staff and others. At one time we employed 26 people, orders flowed in, and prospects were bright.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s staff altered bank account numbers.  When we received the first draw-down of money from their staff, at the beginning of construction of our factory complex known as South Nowra Building World, the draw down was in our company name of Tony Rigg Welding & Manufacturing  Pty. Ltd, account number 181 415. The company did not contract to borrow the money, the partnership of A.T & D. A. Rigg (a separate legal identity) contracted to borrow the money, account number 181 407.  We learnt that the partnership account number had been crossed out and the company account number inserted in its place. Altering documents carries a seven year prison sentence. 

I phoned Mr. Len Greenaway of C.B.A Nowra and told him the draw-down was in the wrong account, he told me it would be easier this way whilst we were building the complex but would be changed back on completion.  This did not happen.  I continually complained about this to COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA staff. Their staff had no authority to alter documents, therefore it is a crime. I asked him by what authority his bank could transfer the interest from our private investment in the name of A.T. and D. A. Rigg to our company in the name of Tony Rigg Welding and Manufacturing Pty. Ltd. 

In response to your letter of 20 June, we are unable to answer your first inquiry as we are unaware of any interest transferred from private investment in your names to Tony Rigg Welding Pty. Limited.

There is a COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA internal memo saying

Legal department has advised to transfer debt from Riggs company to Riggs before litigation.

An account was opened by staff at COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA without our knowledge. It was a No. 2 account in our company Tony Rigg Welding & Manufacturing Pty. Limited. The account was addressed to The Manager, C.B.A. Nowra.  It was sent to us by mistake. I went to COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA Nowra with our solicitor Mr. Angus Broad to withdraw the money in that account as there was about $49,000 in that account. But the bank staff refused to give me the money.  A comment from bank staff was ‘nice try Tony’.

We like many other VICTIMS were never in default.

COMMONWEALTH BANK of AUSTRALIA must totally destroy their victims and leave them on a pension or welfare so the victims have nothing to fight with. We tried to get legal aid without success; it is rare for a victim to get legal aid.

We received letters of demand from Donald Frank Alston, manager, Nowra Branch, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, dated 21 April 1989, one to my wife and one to me, for the amount of $1,215,038-48 because the judgment against us in the Supreme Court of NSW on 19^th April 1989 was obtained by fraud, because of the manipulation of accounts, no access to critical documents, and compounding interest. This amount is about the same as we were charged in troublesome interest and shadow ledgers without our knowledge. It seems we had paid the alleged debt but to deceive us another debt was created to get us into alleged default?