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Police tapped cell phones belonging to members and associates of the Comancheros gang, listening in on live calls nearly a year before robbing bicycles in a major raid.
The national president of the Comancheros, Pasilika Naufahu, is among those facing charges in the Auckland High Court.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
Five people, including the gang’s New Zealand president Pasilika Naufahu, are on trial in Auckland High Court and face a combination of drug, money laundering and organized crime charges.
The case of the Crown is that there was an organized money laundering operation that involved several people, to disguise the true source of the group’s wealth.
The jury interpreted an intercepted phone call, from a lawyer Andrew Simpson, who has already been convicted of money laundering, talking to another man about making deposits without raising any flags with the bank.
“You can put all the apples in the basket in one day if you do it, if you are putting nine in each drop … it will not be marked, if you went to three drops and made nine in each, this is how it can add up quickly”, said the call.
Anti-money laundering rules require banks to request identification and report cash transactions over $ 10,000.
The other man on the call cannot be identified. He is expected to testify later in the trial.
Nearly 500 pages of transcribed phone calls and text messages between various parties have been presented as evidence.
Detective Sergeant Damian Espinosa said police received surveillance orders to intercept multiple phones in 2018.
“When a cell phone call is made, we can listen to it as it happens, in real time. Basically, it is connected through a computer system, through the telecommunications company, and when a call is made, it appears on our computer that there is an entry or an outgoing call is made and then we listen, “said Espinosa.
Andrew Simpson
Photo: RNZ / Jordan Bond
The Crown said the man Andrew Simpson was speaking to and one of the defendants, a woman who has name suppression, then make multiple deposits into a trust account in Simpson’s name.
“From their perspective, if you went to any of the branches and said ‘this is me, I just want to deposit this into Andrew’s trust account’, they will want to see his driver’s license, but they will gladly accept it if you deposit it into my trust account , they will not worry, “said the call.
“If you are under 10 years old, they will ask for your ID, but they won’t mark it.”
The Crown said it had photos of the two of them at various branches of different banking companies for three consecutive days in July 2018.
Speaking to Simpson again, the man said that he and the defendant had deposited “40” and had plans to reach “50”; “100” is mentioned later in the submissions.
The woman is accused of laundering nearly $ 300,000, which she denies.
Later that day, the court heard a phone call between the same man and another in Fiji, who also cannot be identified.
In coded language, the two discuss some kind of exchange, and if the New Zealand man “wants to play in a bigger league,” the “world cup,” this is his chance.
The defense has not yet presented its case. Five attorneys are acting on behalf of the five defendants, all of whom deny the various charges against them, including those of money laundering, drug conspiracy and organized crime.
The trial, before Judge Lang, lasts four weeks.
