Auckland mayoral candidate Leo Molloy says his friend Moses Folau is a reformed character and deserves a second chance. Photo/ Brett Phibbs
A 501 deportee running a private club in downtown Auckland has been challenged by police and council officials who believe his criminal past and gang associates should disqualify him from serving alcohol to his members.
But the ex-convict says he has turned his life around and has the full support of Leo Molloy, a heavyweight in the hospitality industry also hoping to be elected the next mayor of the city.
Moses Folau, who was deported from Australia in 2016 because of a prison sentence for a nightclub assault, is seeking a liquor licence for his members-only premises in Vulcan Lane.
Police and the Auckland Council staff opposed his application to sell alcohol and the case went before the District Licensing Committee last week.
They cited his list of criminal convictions and alleged membership of the Comancheros motorcycle gang in Australia, as well as ongoing associations with gang members in New Zealand, as grounds to refuse his bid.
Outlaw motorcycle gangs are known to use legitimate businesses with cash sales, such as bars, as a front to launder "dirty" money collected from drug deals, according to a police expert who gave evidence at the hearing.
But Folau denied ever being a member of the Comancheros in Australia. He said he had turned his life around after some "dark times" following his deportation and wants to help other "501s" to do the same.
Molloy also turned up in person at the hearing as a character witness and said Folau deserved a second chance.
"I am proud to call him a friend."
He had known Folau for four years as a regular patron of Headquarters, Molloy's popular bar in the Viaduct Harbour.
"I have never seen anything other than decency and respect from him toward other people," Molloy said.
The mayoral candidate said Folau was a reformed character who had helped him to provide food to the homeless and other vulnerable people during lockdowns.
"I believe that he is now of a stable disposition and appears to be very community minded and generous and charitable with his time," Molloy said.
"I can smell trouble a long, long way away… All I see with Moses is blue sky."
Folau is currently working in the construction industry.
His club in Vulcan Lane, called 9Eleven, has been open for some time but cannot serve alcohol.
The idea for the private club came about from a group of "largely corporate businessmen/women" who enjoyed socialising together, according to documents lodged with the liquor licence application.
A barrister, a real estate agent, an architect and other professionals working in Auckland are listed as current members.
Folau also hoped the network of successful people would help find employment for "501s" who have fallen on hard times.
There were no public objections to the liquor licence application and the medical officer of health did not raise any concerns.
However, Auckland Council alcohol licensing inspector Scott Evans opposed Folau's application on the grounds of his criminal history.
He has 10 convictions in Australia, including a jail term for an assault, and three more since being deported to New Zealand.
"Mr Folau has had a history of issues relating to alcohol abuse and incidents that bring into question his character and reputation," Evans said in documents lodged for the District Licensing Committee.
While Folau appeared to have made "significant strides in turning his life around," Evans said the licensing committee needed to be confident the issues in his past would not rear their head again.
Folau was alleged to be a member of the Comancheros in Australia and continued to have gang associations in New Zealand, according to a police gang expert who gave evidence at the tribunal.
Photographs on social media showed Folau with senior members of the Rebels gang who have also been deported from Australia, including high-profile Shane Martin, who recently died, as well as a former Hells Angel.
Detective Sergeant Ray Sunkel, from the Motorcycle Gang Unit, also said outlaw motorcycle gangs used legitimate businesses with cash sales, such as bars, to launder the "dirty" money collected from drug sales.
Folau denied being a member of the Comancheros although conceded he was a close associate of a gang in Australia before his deportation.
Working in the construction industry and as a security guard in nightclubs, Folau said he met characters who were members of an outlaw motorcycle club.
"They invited me to hang around at the clubhouse, which I did. I was not a member but honestly considered joining because I valued the brotherhood which they seemed to project," Folau said.
"When I became older and wiser, I realised everything about them was a load of bollocks."
When questioned about the photographs on social media of Folau standing with known gang members in New Zealand, Folau said he only knew them because they were interviewed together by an Australian journalist for a documentary.
"That's how I met these guys. Because we're all 501s, that's how we're connected."
Folau wiped away tears when asked at the hearing if his private club was simply a front for a "gang pad".
"I've spent time in jail. I've been kicked out of the country. I've lost my family. Do you really think I want to set up a gang pad, sell drugs and do this kind of bullshit?
"Last thing I want to do is go back to jail."
Folau also outlined traumatic details of his childhood after he moved to Australia as a 5-year-old. His father was soon killed in a car crash leaving his mother to raise eight children on her own. Several years later, 8-year-old Folau discovered the body of his older brother who had committed suicide.
After leaving school to work in construction, Folau was jailed following an assault conviction from a nightclub fight involving gang members.
After his release from prison, Folau returned to a construction job. He was promoted and planning a wedding but those dreams were shattered in April 2016.
Folau was arrested to be deported on character grounds under a controversial amendment to Australia's immigration laws which has strained diplomatic relations with New Zealand.
Visas were automatically cancelled if an individual failed the character test, written into law as section 501, because they had a substantial criminal record, defined as a sentence of imprisonment of 12 months or more.
Over the next five years, thousands of these so-called "501s", many of whom had lived their entire lives in Australia, were deported "home" to New Zealand, where they often arrived penniless with no long-term accommodation, employment or even family to support them.
Many had mental health issues or drug and alcohol addictions which, when combined with anger about being separated from their lives in Australia, increased the risk of criminal or anti-social behaviour.
But among the 501s was a somewhat smaller subset that posed a much greater risk to New Zealand: Australian bikies who were targeted for deportation because of their senior positions within gangs such as the Comancheros and Mongols.
The "impact of 501s on the New Zealand gang scene cannot be overstated", Sunkel said in his evidence. They had established widespread drug networks, and firearms violence had reached new levels.
Folau told the Weekend Herald he is not part of that world.
"It's hard being judged all the time. I am a man who is trying to move on in life. A lot of people have come from Australia and have been struggling," Folau said.
"If I can get [the liquor licence], then there is hope for others. They don't have to go down the old path; there's a chance to make a better life for themselves."
The District Licensing Committee is expected to make a ruling on Folau's application by the end of next month.
- additional reporting Carolyne Meng-Yee
Armed police stood guard as the patched members were led out in handcuffs.