Federal Court finds NAB fraud secrecy claim has ‘air of a Kafka novel’

National Australia Bank falsely identified a Melbourne bullion dealer as a scammer and told his now “hysterical” customers they had purchased more than $600,000 in gold that was either fake or never existed, the seller claims.

After the dealer sued the bank, NAB argued the case should be kept secret from the public because of laws and regulations it refused to identify – a move the Federal Court described as having “the air of a Kafka novel” when it dismissed the company’s application for a suppression order.