Pastor backed loans with $15m fraudster

A pastor had parishioners pray for God's help to buy homes and then encouraged them to take out mortgages with a fraudster.

Pastor Joshua Avia of the Hosanna Baptist Church Lower Hutt called members to the front of the church to pray for wealth, then ran $10-a-head prosperity evenings at which he introduced them to fraudster Krishna Veni.

Veni was sentenced last week to 12 months' home detention for using false documents to secure $15 million of loans for 66 unsuspecting clients. She was found to have used scissors and a photocopier to create fraudulent mortgage applications without the applicants' knowledge, allowing them to get bigger loans than they were entitled to.

It is estimated more than $1m was lost and two people lost their homes in mortgagee sales.

Mr Avia said members of his church had taken out loans with Veni and many were now struggling to pay their mortgages. He regretted introducing them to Veni, but said he had no idea at the time that her loans were dodgy.

A former member of Hosanna Baptist Church said parishioners were encouraged to buy homes during the property boom in 2006, sell them at a profit and give the proceeds to the church. They were also tithed 10 per cent of their salaries.

The parishioner said Mr Avia had told the congregation that half the loans on the books at Wizard Finance Lower Hutt, where Veni carried out her frauds, were held by members of the Hosanna Baptist Church.

The congregation was told that banks were robbing Christians but Wizard Home Loans and Veni – a Catholic – were there to help.

The parishioner left the church because she was unhappy with the way it was run financially.

Mr Avia sold his $275,000 Lower Hutt home in late 2007 and in 2008 moved to Brisbane, where he bought a $1.2m home and set up another branch of Hosanna church. Several of his Lower Hutt parishioners followed him.

As well as Brisbane, he now has churches in Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney and Melbourne.

Mr Avia, who also took out loans with Veni, said he did not receive any commission from her but introduced her to the parish because she was helpful. "I think now ... I sort of regret doing that because we didn't know anything that was going on."

He said there was no conflict in a pastor giving financial advice or telling them to buy homes. "It's the right thing to encourage for those who can. It's only for those who wanted to. I always see it as much better than people paying rent."

Although he knew of people who had taken loans with Veni and who were now struggling to pay their mortgages, the housing crash in 2007 had also had an impact.

He had also owned "a lot" of properties in New Zealand and had amassed "a huge amount" of debt when he sold them and moved to Australia.

Veni would not comment to The Dominion Post when approached at court last week.

Baptist Church national leader Rodney McCann said he had not heard of pastors praying for prosperity from the pulpit. "I wasn't aware Joshua had been doing that."

He said the Lower Hutt Hosanna church offered more than just spiritual care and gave parishioners help with practical advice.

"I do have a lot of confidence in the leadership of that church."

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