Simperingham said at the peak of Xu's involvement she was dealing with tradespeople and local authorities to gain building permits when preparing the houses for sale.

"She had little to do with the financial aspects of the business, and nothing to do with the fraudulent activity," he said.

Simperingham said the court will hear evidence that "Huang or someone else who worked for or with him", forged Xu's signature on documents relating to property purchases.

"She was busy looking after the couple's younger daughter, and was busy working on the operational aspects of the business – getting the houses built," Simperingham said.

The identities of Chen and Jiang were revealed by the Herald in December 2016.

Chen is facing 12 charges, two of which are representative, for his alleged deliberate intention to deceive the banks of the identity of the true property buyers.

He also faces two charges for allegedly failing to identify the real borrower, a further seven charges for providing the alleged false and misleading documents, and one representative charge under the Secret Commissions Act for the kickback payments.

Simmonds said the lawyer acted for the reported vendor and buyer in the majority of the property transactions.

Chen's counsel Sam Wimsett likened his client's involvement to early Australian settlers, "lured onto a boat with promises of a great southern land but yet to find out about the poisonous snakes, spiders and lack of water".

He said Chen was a solicitor involved in thousands of matters and should not be portrayed as a "suburban solicitor doing a handful of transactions on a Friday night".

"It cannot be the case that 'he was the solicitor, he must've been across it'."

Jiang, when working at the BNZ, is accused of processing and approving the loan applications in exchange for kickbacks.

He faces a total of 26 charges for obtaining by deception and the alleged bribe.

The SFO wished to charge the second banker, but he fled the country before court action court be taken. It is believed he is now in China.

Jiang's counsel Julie-Anne Kincade said her client was unaware the documents were fraudulent or that Huang was the true borrower.

The judge-alone trial before Justice Sarah Katz is scheduled for 12 weeks and will hear from 35 witnesses including bank managers, accountants, real estate managers and lawyers.