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A media personality and accountant accused of money laundering for the Comancheros gang were acquitted of the charges today, with one of them collecting a fine for drug possession.
Accountant Wiwini Hakaraia has had three counts of money laundering and one of participation in an organized criminal group dismissed.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
They were among five people, including the gang’s local chapter president Pasilika Naufahu, who originally faced a series of charges for money laundering, drug possession and organized crime, following a series of police raids in Auckland last April. .
In three and a half weeks in Auckland High Court, the jury heard bugged phone calls that allegedly included coded conversations about large sums of money, and heard details of a roadside drug trafficking attempt in Takanini.
The defense case was expected to start this week, but jurors learned today that that was no longer happening, while insufficient evidence had reduced eleven counts to four and five defendants to three.
Judge Graham Lang told the jury that none of the defendants had chosen to present evidence, “as in fact it is their absolute right.”
“As you understand, there has been a big shift in the scope of the evidence that you will now be asked to consider,” he said.
One of the defendants, a name-suppressing media personality, was acquitted of two counts of money laundering and one of involvement in an organized criminal group.
The other is the accountant Wiwini Hakaraia, acquitted of participating in an organized crime group and three counts of money laundering.
Instead, he admitted two counts of possession of a class A drug and was sentenced this afternoon.
One charge relates to 27.6 grams of cocaine found in a bag in a Nike shoe during a police search of his home in April last year, while the other charge is for a 18.2 gram bag of powder in a cupboard, containing cocaine and methamphetame.
At his sentencing this afternoon, Judge Graham Lang fined the accountant $ 2,000.
Attorney Paul Wicks QC had asked that Hakaraia’s plea, good character and “substantial community efforts” be taken into account, including his work with youth mentoring and anti-smoking groups.
He also assured that his client had changed his ways.
“Since the search in April last year, Mr. Hakaraia has stopped using drugs. Now he tells me that he already owns or uses drugs and that is something that he has permanently left behind in his life,” he said.
The trial continues for Pasilika Naufahu, who is charged with money laundering and conspiracy to supply pseudoephedrine, a class B drug, after the charge of conspiracy to import a class A drug was dropped.
Connor Clausen is charged with conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine, and another person with provisional name suppression is charged with money laundering.
The Crown is expected to deliver its final statement tomorrow.
