TWO MEN accused of conning Allied Irish Banks (AIB) into lending them £740 million started acting suspiciously when they realised “the net was closing” in, a court heard yesterday.

Achilleas Kallakis (43) and Alexander Williams (43) emptied a safe, trying to hide potential evidence, and fled when they saw a police car, the court was told.

Claiming they ran a huge property empire, Mr Kallakis and Mr Williams faked documents lying about the amount of money they had, the court heard.

They said their firm, Oregon Finance Corporation, had assets in excess of US$1 billion, backed up by faked documents from Credit Suisse, jurors heard, and they are accused of forging leasing agreements and guarantees to secure loans for high-profile properties.

They persuaded AIB to lend them a total of £740 million between 2003 and 2008 on the basis of deeds of guarantee and documents stating Mr Kallakis’s wealth, but when the business collapsed, the bank lost £56 million.

Yesterday Southwark Crown Court was told that after AIB called in the loan facility in the autumn of 2008, the behaviour of Kallakis and Williams “altered”.

Victor Temple QC, prosecuting, said: “Doubtless they realised the net would be closing in and they would be held to account. Pointers, small in themselves, were noticed. A safe in Mr Williams’s office was emptied.”

Both men deny two counts of conspiracy to defraud, 13 counts of forgery, five counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of money laundering and one count of obtaining a money transfer by deception.

The trial continues.