Vic business lied to borrow $27m: trial

A Victorian transport company convinced Australia's biggest bank to lend it almost $30 million after its directors allegedly lied about how much money the business was making.

The Viking Group of 20 transport and logistics companies went into liquidation in 2011, costing the Commonwealth Bank more than $48 million.

Former Viking Group head Steve Iliopoulos, his son Peter and company trustee Vasilis Bariamis have been charged with multiple counts of fraud linked to the group's finances.

They are accused of obtaining a financial advantage by deception between 2007 and 2011, with Steve Iliopoulos and Bariamis also charged with attempting to obtain a financial advantage.

By late 2010, Viking's combined credit limit at the Commonwealth Bank was $27 million, their Victorian Supreme Court trial heard on Thursday.

It's alleged Bariamis and Steve Iliopoulos lied about Viking's cashflow problems numerous times to banking managers in order to secure funding.

At one meeting in June 2010, the bank was told Viking had begun dealing with much larger companies - Aldi, Linfox, Toll, TNT and V/Line - and the longer invoicing periods had impacted their cashflow.

When the banker called back to check how much the V/Line contract was worth, Viking is said to have told them it was "in excess of $2.7 million".

"None of the Viking companies had any dealings at all with V/Line," prosecutor Daryl Brown told the trial.

The directors also told bank managers that logistics giant Linfox owed Viking $3 million for previous work.

Based on Linfox's invoice records, it owed Viking less than $2000.

"There were inflated debt values," Mr Brown said.

"These are not the only ones, they are some of the more glaring ones."

Almost 100 witnesses will testify at the trio's trial, including relatives who will be testifying against Bariamis and Steve Iliopoulos.

It's alleged his son Peter was an active participant in the joint criminal enterprise, even if he was not the instigator or the driving force behind the fraud.

Steve Iliopoulos regularly falsified loan documents, invoices, letters from financial management companies and tax returns to obtain credit from banks, according to a prosecution summary of charges.