A new mother whose husband was embroiled in a plan to launder money has pleaded for him to be spared prison.
Nitin Kapila has pleaded guilty after being charged with participating in a criminal group to contribute to criminal activity and knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime in July 2019.
His wife Harpreet Kaur said the ongoing stress could have led to the premature birth of the couple's daughter in November.
"The fear is always that I'm going to lose my husband, we don't know what the impact will be," she told the Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday.
Ms Kaur said she is reliant on her husband financially and emotionally, with no family of her own to help care for their child and meet payments on their mortgage and other debts.
Community service and supervision for her husband would help, she said.
"He can pay for the actions he's done before and I can also have support at home," Ms Kaur told the court.
Kapila's lawyer Michael Coroneos submitted Judge Christopher O'Brien could give him a maximum period of community service, allowing Kapila to pay back his debt to society and save the cost of keeping him in prison.
Kapila served about four months on remand before being granted bail in 2019.
The judge "wrestled" with Mr Coroneos' submission that Kapila's good behaviour while on bail should work in his favour.
"You don't get a prize for not committing offences though do you?" Judge O'Brien said.
Mr Coroneos said it showed Kapila's positive prospects.
"He's well on the way to rehabilitating himself," Mr Coroneos said.
Kapila was less involved in the scheme, for a shorter period, and for less money than some of his co-offenders, Mr Coroneos submitted.
Crown prosecutor Tarik Abdulhak on Monday told the court Kapila was more involved and stood to gain more than some others.
While he was not directing or giving orders, he cannot claim to have been tricked into participating or otherwise unaware of criminal activity, due to the "proactive nature" of his role in it, Mr Abdulhak submitted.
"What Your Honour has heard is a vague statement about not being initially aware, which cannot possibly be true," Mr Abdulhak said.
A Corrective Services NSW staffer who prepared a sentencing assessment report told the court Kapila had consistently maintained he was unaware of any crime he committed, and pleaded guilty to avoid a costly and lengthy trial.
Kapila was aware there was an ongoing criminal enterprise because he knew it was encountering problems with banks shutting down accounts used by the corporate entities set up to misrepresent proceeds of crime as legitimate business, Mr Abdulhak said.
He stood to gain a four per cent commission for funnelling money through a bank account of his father, posing as him to the Commonwealth Bank scam detection team as part of a "sustained and brazen" attempt to steal $2.5 million, which Mr Abdulhak said only failed because the bank refused to release funds.
A letter of apology tendered to the court would not help Kapila's case, only further demonstrating that he sought to minimise his role in the scheme and blame others.
"There is no genuine recognition of wrongdoing or genuine remorse," Mr Abdulhak said.
He acknowledged Kapila's four months on remand but said there were no acceptable sentencing alternatives to imprisonment..
Judge O'Brien will deliver a judgment in the case on February 24.
