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A top New Zealand sportsman has had his proposal for permanent name removal rejected for the fourth time after prosecutors accused him of being involved in a global drug conspiracy, but his identity has yet to be revealed.
The sports star is expected to file a new appeal with the Supreme Court.
In September, after he filed his fourth appeal, the Court of Appeal heard the case for the second time.
Today, that court again denied the man permanent removal of the name, but was given permission to, once again, request the provisional removal of the name to allow him to appeal the latest sentence.
The athlete was named during the drug trafficking trial of Tevita Fangupo, Tevita Kulu and Toni Finau in Auckland last year.
Despite not being charged, the sports star was charged by the Crown with being “intimately” linked to the crime, which included imports of methamphetamine from California.
He has vigorously denied the allegations, even under oath.
After the trial, the presiding judge, Judge Mathew Downs, rejected an initial offer for permanent removal of the name. This led to a series of appeal hearings, including that of the Court of Appeals, which rejected the removal of the athlete last year.
However, as everyone involved prepared for a showdown before the Supreme Court, the case returned to the High Court after new information emerged and led to a new request for suppression.
But in June, the Superior Court and Judge Downs again rejected the effort for a gag order forever.
The athlete’s attorney, former attorney general Michael Heron QC, said prosecutors had been “careless” about what they said during the trial.
“They did not need to allege his participation, they did not need to name him. And when they did, it was not fair, responsible or necessary,” he said at the September hearing in the Court of Appeals.
“He has never transported or exchanged cash for these people, he has never dealt with importing methamphetamine. He has said it under oath,” Heron said.
Since the trial, the Crown has dropped one of its previous allegations against the athlete, which was based on a series of phone messages and a contact named “Sese.”
The messages were claimed to show the sports star changing money for the union, but the indictment was dropped after the athlete’s immigration records were provided.
It was this change and new information from a colleague of the man that indicated that the publicity would compromise his career opportunities to the tune of at least $ 5 million, allowing him to file a new application in Superior Court.
The court refused to grant permanent removal, arguing that the evidence used in the drug trial related to him was admissible and that the police had only withdrawn one of the statements about his involvement.
The court also said that his prominence and financial means would allow it to highlight the fact that he was never charged and that one of the charges had been dropped.
“The only new evidence of any consequence concerns the retraction of the Crown’s submission on the” Sese “text that refers to the athlete. We consider that, in context, it is a merely neutral consideration. It cannot justify a different result in this new appeal, “concluded the court’s decision.
