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DAVID BLANCO / THINGS
Comanchero’s Clerk Jarome Fonua was sentenced Tuesday in Auckland High Court.
The secretary of the Comanchero motorcycle gang has been jailed for his involvement in a large-scale drug and money laundering operation.
Jarome Raymond Fonua previously admitted to participating in a criminal group organized for the purpose of drug trafficking, money laundering and possession of 5.9 grams of methamphetamine.
On Tuesday, in Auckland High Court, Judge Graham Lang said Fonua was an “important player in the group” and sentenced him to four years and six months in prison.
Fonua was arrested, along with 18 other people, after a series of raids in Auckland in April 2019, in which more than $ 3.7 million in assets were seized along with luxury cars, motorcycles, luxury luggage and jewelry.
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The police investigation focused on the supply of controlled drugs by the New Zealand chapter of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club.
DAVID BLANCO / THINGS
The gang member will be deported back to Australia once his sentence is completed.
Fonua’s attorney, Ron Mansfield, said his client’s direct involvement in the case was limited.
The money laundering charge relates to the purchase of a Range Rover, valued at about $ 150,000.
The defense attorney said his client would be deported back to Australia once he completes his sentence and his partner will have to improve his life to be with him.
However, Crown Prosecutor Emma Smith said Fonua’s involvement ran from at least July 2018 to April 2019, when he was found with $ 12,000 in cash, a cash counting machine and methamphetamine.
RICKY WILSON / THINGS
The president of the band, Pasilika Naufahu, will be sentenced later this year.
The court heard that Fonua arrived in New Zealand in November 2017. Unlike other members of the Comancheros, he was born in Australia and is a citizen of that country.
In a relatively short period of arriving in New Zealand with his Kiwi-born partner, he became a member of the gang.
In August 2018, $ 239,000 was deposited into Fonua’s account.
“That cash must have come from criminal activities … none of the accused had permanent jobs,” Judge Lang said.
THINGS
Members of the Comanchero motorcycle gang have been arrested in Auckland. (First published April 2019)
Fonua must have known that the gang was receiving funds through drug trafficking activity given his “position of trust” in the gang, the court heard.
“Clearly he was entrusted with cash … provided $ 60,000 for Mr. Naufahu’s property.”
However, Judge Lang accepted that Fonua was not the orchestrator of the crime.
On May 31, 2019, following Fonua’s arrest in April, police found electronic scales with traces of methamphetamine, 5.9 grams of the drug, and an encrypted communication device.
In October this year, gang president Pasilika Naufahu was found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to supply pseudoephedrine, a precursor to methamphetamine.
Connor Michael Tamati Clausen was also convicted of conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine and a woman with name suppression was found guilty of money laundering.
The trio will be sentenced later this year for their crime.
A media personality, who has name suppression, and accountant Wiwini Himi Hakaraia were originally on trial, however their charges were formally released midway through the trial.
Earlier this year, attorney Andrew Simpson and the gang’s vice president, Tyson Daniels, were jailed after admitting their involvement in the operation.
