NatWest customers ‘scammed bank out of tens of thousands in loans they never intended to repay’

• Bee Finance in north London used bank employees to sign off false applications

A group of NatWest customers scammed the bank out of tens of thousands of pounds by taking out loans they never intended to repay, a court heard.

Bee Finance, based in Wood Green, north London, helped customers make false applications to the bank between 2018 and 2019.

Information was given to the bank suggesting that applicants were earning more than they were before the false loans were signed off by bank insiders. 

The scam was run by husband and wife Cebrail Polat and Munube Polat, and Ezu Ahmet who were jailed in July last year.

The trio were helped by ‘insiders’ Matthew Wood and Laurence Taylor.    

Six of the applicants allegedly helped by Bee Finance are now on trial at Southwark Crown Court for their part in the large scale fraud that saw the bank lose up to £1million.

Ibrahim Ali, 58, Fadime Aslan, 64, Gulseren Bulbul, 52, Berit Kalan, 38, Sevinc Komesogutlu, 35, and Jayden Yilmaz, 33 all used the unregulated Bee Finance to help secure false loans.

Prosecutor Benjamin Holt told the court during the trial that the rogue company and two ‘inside men’ operated within the bank to smooth the process, allowing six individuals to fraudulently claim large loans. 

Mr Holt earlier told jurors: ‘Between the middle part of 2018 and summer of 2019 NatWest Bank were defrauded.

‘A finance company based in the Wood Green area of North London, Bee Finance, were assisting customers to obtain loans by using false documents.

‘In a nutshell, loan applicants were providing information during the application process that was untrue and/or misleading. 

‘The information provided to the bank made out that they were earning more than they actually were.

‘There is no dispute in this case that the bank was defrauded. There is no dispute that false documents were used as part of the loan application. 

‘Those responsible for the over-arching fraud have, you will hear, already been convicted of their roles in that fraud.

‘In particular, you will hear about those who ran Bee Finance – Cebrail Polat, Munube Polat and Ezu Ahmet – and two ‘inside men’ – Matthew Wood and Laurence Taylor – who operated inside the Bank to smooth the process.

‘These six defendants are the loan applicants themselves. In the shortest of order, the prosecution’s case is that they must have known that false details were being used as part of the application process.

‘They must have known that, had they entered legitimate details, the loans would not have been granted, because they would not have been eligible for them. Perhaps best illustrated by the fact that each one of these defendants has defaulted on the loan.’

Senior control manager at NatWest Richard Brewis told jurors: ‘We offer loans to any member of the public if they meet certain requirements such as residence in the country,’.

‘If they needed a residence permit to reside in the country, the loan could not exceed the time they had leave to remain.’

Mr Brewis was asked if NatWest customers were more likely to be given loans that those that used other banks.

‘We do generally see a higher rate of acceptance, purely because we can see a chunk of their history, we can see that they don’t have a lot of debt.’

He emphasised that people seeking loans would have to approach the bank themselves.

‘If an individual went to an external company to seek financial advice such as Bee Finance, they may turn around and say that NatWest is the place to go, but there is no mechanism for them to formally introduce the client to us.

‘It is unheard of that a broker would approach us on behalf of an individual.’

Ali applied for a loan of £19,950 on 9 November 2018, the court heard.

He claimed that he earned £1,870 a month as a chef but HMRC has no record of him being in employment. The prosecution claims that the payslip was a false document.

Aslan applied for two loans; one for £25,000 on 12 March 2019 which he claimed was for a new car, and one for £19,950 on 26 March 2019.

On her application she was described as a ‘professional’ with a monthly income of £2,403.

On 17 April 2019 Kalan from Haringey made an application for a loan of £30,000. 

The purpose of the loan was also for a new car and  her application claimed that she earned £2,100 a month working in the supermarket K Super Store but HMRC has no record of her being in employment.

Sevinc Komesogotlu also applied for a personal loan of £19,950 at the Barnet branch in April 2019.

No purpose for the loan was given and no monthly income or occupation was visible.

Bulbul from Hackney applied for a personal loan for £25,000 at the Barnet branch and the application form was signed on 16 May 2019 by the conspiring bank workers.

The purpose of the loan was said to be a new car and she was described as being in full-time employment with her income stated as £2,600 after tax and signed off by bank insider Taylor.

Payslips covering three months were provided and her application stated she worked at Somine Restaurant but HMRC had no records for Bulbul and her bank account showed that she received regular benefit payments.

Jayden Yilmaz also made an application for a personal loan at the Barnet branch for £50,000 on 20 June 2019.

The purpose of the loan was listed as ‘Other’ and his net monthly income after tax was said to be £2,650 with his job listed as ‘sales’.

The application claimed that he earned £2,650 a month and his occupation was listed as ‘sales’.

Payslips were provided for March, April and May 2019 suggesting Mehmet worked for Jewellery Ltd. 

His total gross pay for the tax year 2019 was said to be nearly £42,000 with a net pay of £2,650 each month

But once again HMRC did not hold records of employment in relation to Yilmaz who he claimed he was employed by ‘Ayaz Jewelley Ltd’ in 2017 and 2018. 

In 2018 to 2019 he was employed by Vape Hub and Fair Deal Food Store where he earned a total gross income cf £13,500.

Between 2019 and 2020, he was employed by Vape Hub.

Kalan, Aslan, of Tottenham, Bulbul, Ali, Yilmaz and  Komesogutlu, all from Enfield, deny fraud by false representation.

The trial continues.