The District Court has jailed nine men, aged from 35 to 55, for 14 to 54 months for conspiracy to defraud banks of $70.7 million.

The Court heard that the fraudsters set up three locally incorporated companies and other bogus supplier companies. They submitted false bank statements, auditor's reports and invoices to victimised banks to obtain credit facilities between April 2004 and March 2006.

They submitted false invoices to draw funds from the bank and deposit them into the accounts of the bogus companies until the credit lines were used up. The money was then diverted back to syndicate members.

Nine banks were deceived of a total of $70.7 million. Nearly half of it - $31.5 million - was not recovered and $3 million was guaranteed by the Small & Medium Enterprise Guarantee Scheme.

Police started investigating in October 2005 and arrested people, including three masterminds, by August 2007. They also seized documents, computers and fax machines.