Woman allegedly used fake job in $5m scam

A woman accused of ripping off more than $5m from members of the Thai community is making a desperate bid for bail as she prepares to represent herself in a lengthy trial.

Siriluck Fatima Chimmalee appeared in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday via audiovisual link after being charged with 57 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Police allege the 30-year-old pretended to be a registered remitter and charged customers inflated rates to exchange large sums of money from Australia to foreign countries.

The court heard she allegedly swindled $5.2m out of members of the Thai community which she promised to invest for substantial returns.

Crown prosecutor David Morters told the court it was an international Ponzi scheme and “what was promised was not possible to achieve”.

Wearing her prison greens, Ms Chimmalee appeared calm as she represented herself in the bail application, with a Thai interpreter waiting to assist her with any language barriers.

She had been scheduled to face a trial over the fraud charges next month, but the court heard the trial date was abandoned when the 30-year-old fired her legal team.

The Thai native told the Supreme Court she has been unable to access the electronic file containing the evidence while in custody.

She explained the “very complex matter” has a large quantity of documents, which she is unable to view on the communal prison computer.

“The allegation of fraud in the Crown case is not straightforward,” she said.

The court heard Ms Chimmalee made similar claims at a bail hearing last year, which were dismissed by the presiding Supreme Court Justice.

“She said she didn’t have access last time and it was proved she did have access,” Mr Morters said.

“There is nothing before (Your Honour) whatsoever to show she does have any change in circumstances.”

The 30-year-old has since been moved to a different correctional facility, which the court heard may have altered her computer arrangements.

Ms Chimmalee argued she needed to be “at liberty” to prepare for the upcoming trial, in which she would be representing herself.

The court was told she intends to subpoena witnesses in Australia and Thailand as part of her defence case.

If granted bail, the 30-year-old explained she would apply to have her funds unfrozen so she could pay for legal representation or “anything that would benefit me in running the trial”.

However, Mr Morters informed her that the $45,000 frozen by the authorities had been forfeited and she owed $450,000 to two victims of a romance scam.

“She won’t be in the position to self-fund,” he told the court.

Ms Chimmalee had been on bail for the “Sugar Daddy” scams – for which she was recently convicted – in which she allegedly committed the multimillion dollar remitter fraud, the court heard.

Mr Morters claimed the 30-year-old had tried to continue her fraudulent behaviour while incarcerated by contacting a man and misrepresenting herself.

“Even in jail she is attempting to re energise that opportunity,” he said.

The crown prosecutor said she would continue offending or disappear altogether if she was released from custody.

“If Ms Chimmalee is granted bail, the crown submits there will be no trial,” he said.

“She will leave the jurisdiction.”

Mr Morters alleged the Thai-born Australian resident had made “no attempt to deal with the allegations” but instead launched “a string of desperate bail applications”.

Ms Chimmalee refuted the claim and declared there was “no evidence that (she) would flee the country”.

Justice Dina Yehia told the court she required further documentation about Ms Chimmalee’s alleged difficulty in accessing the case material.

“I want to be satisfied that she is able to access the documentation while preparing for her trial,” she said.

She adjourned the matter until April 28 to allow the parties time to collect evidence of the arrangements at the custodial centre.

The court heard Ms Chimmalee’s trial is likely to run for 11 to 12 weeks later this year.