Corrupt Police Claim: Was Corrupt Auckland Officer Vili Taukolo Acting Alone?

A former Auckland cop who was a highly paid informant from the criminal underworld may not have acted alone.

The alarming allegation, which has confused police, was included in a Parole Board report and suggests the bailiff was one of the corrupt cops dealing with classified material.

A blue-on-blue investigation found that Vili Taukolo was paid tens of thousands of dollars to access sensitive material for organized criminals, including an operation involving a multi-million dollar Mexican drug business, which included the largest meth bust on the island. South.

The 31-year-old was prosecuted and sentenced to two years and two months in prison last December after pleading guilty to accessing the police’s national intelligence enforcement system (NIA) for a dishonest purpose.

His case was a key reason for the creation of the National Integrity Unit this year, a police team dedicated to fighting corruption, to investigate suspected corrupt police officers.

But in a case reminiscent of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, Taukolo may have been working with other officers or deceptive New Zealand police personnel.

The shocking allegation was included in his first August Parole Board decision, which has been delivered to the Herald.

It states that after Taukolo accessed the NIA “he provided that information to other police officers knowing that it was likely to be misused and he also used the information to provide it to criminal gangs.”

The additional claim is in addition to Taukolo’s known leak of police information to criminal networks, for which he was paid around $ 70,000.

The statement about potentially undiscovered corruption in the ranks also directly contradicts what Superintendent Karyn Malthus said after the Taukolo court case.

“I want to assure the community that he acted alone and that no other police officers were found involved,” said the Auckland City District Commander.

“Police officers spent months analyzing the information that Mr. Taukolo had access to at the NIA. The investigation was thorough.”

When contacted by the Herald this week about the discrepancy, a spokesman said police said the investigation had found no evidence that Taukolo’s crime involved other employees.

“Police are not aware of any information that Mr. Taukolo provided information to other officers knowing that it was likely to be misused, as suggested in the Parole Board’s decision.”

However, the spokesperson said police have sought more information from the Parole Board and will wait for a response before deciding whether any further investigation is required.

But police have refused to reveal to the Herald who exactly the NIA Taukolo information was leaking to.

“We know through our investigation that Mr. Taukolo provided information to third parties, however we will not comment on further details in relation to other people,” a spokesperson previously said.

In the Board of Parole report, written by President Sir Ron Young, Taukolo also emphasized his opinion that his offense was due to his loss of Christian faith and lack of involvement in community and church activities.

“We do not find his explanations for his offense convincing,” the board said, deciding to keep him behind bars.

Taukolo will see the Board of Parole again in December. Its final release date is February 2022.

Following the court case, internal police documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act also revealed “coercion [of police] it’s a common phenomenon. “

The reports further proposed a review of the processes and policy on the information entered in the ISA.

Taukolo was using the computer system, which contains details about police investigations, vehicles, locations, phone numbers and criminal histories, to reveal documents linked to active investigations.

Ultimately, he was fined after irregularities in his use of the NIA were discovered and led to an audit, which identified more than 20,0000 suspicious searches between November 2017 and March 2019.

The court documents also show that Taukolo made inquiries to the NIA about 34 other police officers and saw personal information about them, such as their address, vehicles and “events related to them.”

When police searched his home, they found $ 30,000 in cash packed in a bedroom drawer, while under his mattress were several NIA documents.

Taukolo, who graduated from police school in late 2016, resigned shortly after being charged.

Police have said that the violations, when discovered, were also reported to the Independent Authority for Police Conduct.

Illegal use of the NIA, however, is not uncommon and Taukolo is one of several Kiwi police officers in recent years who have been prosecuted for such crimes.

In a civil case in Superior Court, Taukolo was ordered to lose $ 80,000, which included his police pension.