The Comancheros are an Australian motorcycle gang which established a chapter in New Zealand after members were deported here. Photo / Supplied
The Comancheros are an Australian motorcycle gang which established a chapter in New Zealand after members were deported here. Photo / Supplied
A senior member of a notorious Australian motorcycle gang has admitted that the purchase of a Range Rover - worth $150,000 - was money laundering. Jarome Fonua, a patched Comanchero, also admitted participating in an organised criminal group just weeks ahead of a scheduled High Court trial.
A senior Comancheros gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group - changing his plea just a few weeks ahead of his trial.
Jarome Fonua entered guilty pleas to the offences this morning at a High Court hearing, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.
The money-laundering charge relates to his late-model Range Rover, worth around $150,000.
He also pleaded guilty to being caught with 5.9 grams of methamphetamine.
Fonua was convicted on all three matters this morning.
He asked Justice Sally Fitzgerald not to enter convictions until his sentencing date so that his remand status in prison would not change.
Convicted inmates are subject to different and often stricter conditions than those awaiting trial.
Justice Fitzgerald refused to delay entering the conviction, saying it would set a precedent for all inmates to seek the same and that was not appropriate.
Tyson Daniels, left, is the Comancheros vice-president and Jarome Fonua is the gang's treasurer. Photo / Supplied
Fonua was due to stand trial at the High Court in September, along with other members of the Australian motorcycle gang and their associates on charges laid in April 2019 following Operation Nova.
The admissions of guilt the senior member of the gang today comes six months after Tyson Daniels, the gang's vice president, and Auckland lawyer Andrew Simpson were sent to prison for money laundering.
Nearly $1.3 million in cash was deposited into the lawyer's trust account, which was then used to purchase expensive cars and property.
For Daniels alone, there were four Range Rovers - with price tags of $175,000, $255,000, $218,000 and $280,000 - a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz, a Lamborghini for $285,000, and two Rolls-Royces, which cost $364,000 and $595,000.
A charge of participating in an organised criminal group between May 2017 and April 2019 was also admitted by Daniels, who was living in the affluent Auckland suburb of Mellons Bay until his arrest in April last year.
In sentencing Daniels - who was wearing a Versace top in Comanchero colours of black and gold - to four years and eight months in prison, Justice Gerard van Bohemen said the senior gang member played a crucial role overseeing the gang's operations for significant personal gain.
Three Range Rovers worth around $150,000 each were seized in Operation Nova. Photo / Police
The offending was sophisticated, said Justice van Bohemen, with encrypted devices used to avoid detection by police.
Money was deposited at banks in amounts less than $10,000, in a bid to avoid triggering the banks' reporting threshold, then funnelled through trust and company accounts to disguise their criminal origins.
"You clearly knew the money was derived from significant importation of drugs."
More than $1.2m in cash was deposited into Andrew Simpson's trust account at his law practice, which was also used to purchase some of the cars belonging to Daniels and allegedly others in the gang, as well as real estate such as a $1.3m home in Auckland.
Justice van Bohemen said Simpson was the facilitator of the money-laundering scheme, who used his specialist skills and knowledge as a lawyer.
"You made it work. You set up the trusts and lended respectability, as a lawyer, to a criminal organisation."
Simpson was reckless and brought the legal profession into disrepute, however, the judge was satisfied he was genuine in his remorse.
Despite this, Simpson was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
"I deeply regret a father being separated from his family. However, that is a consequence of your decisions."
Tyson Daniels, wearing the gold Versace top, and Andrew Simpson at their High Court sentencing in February 2020. Photo / Michael Craig
Neither man was charged with drug offences.
But the police allege the Comancheros, an Australian gang which set up shop in New Zealand after a number of senior members were deported here, are behind significant drug smuggling linked to a Mexican cartel.
In July, a 60-year-old man who travelled to Mexico was sentenced to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to four charges of importing a Class A drug after being identified in Operation Nova.
Tallat Rahman, from Suva, was arrested in February 2019 in the first phase of the inquiry, which discovered how parcels of methamphetamine weighing up to 5kg were hidden inside kitchen appliances shipped from the United States.
Once in New Zealand, the police allege the drugs were distributed by "frontmen" for the Comancheros, whose hierarchy allegedly reaped the rewards of the illicit trade.
Rahman was unknown to the team of detectives running Operation Nova until he was overheard talking to one of the "frontmen", who cannot be named for legal reasons, whose phone conversations were bugged by police.
He said: "You're going to start off with a nice number with two zeroes. I'm going to land it between you and me ... [I'll give you] all the f***en work you can handle. We're going to land it there [in New Zealand]."
The cheap wholesale price of $120,000 per kilogram was agreed to by both parties, in a deal the police believed would weigh at least 100kg ("a nice number with two zeros").
The call was made in Mexico and the caller was identified as Rahman; a Fijian-Indian who lived in Suva, who had dual Canadian citizenship and travelled regularly to Mexico and the United States.
Everything went quiet until Rahman flew into Auckland International Airport on December 18, 2018, and checked into a hotel on Queen St, the Four Points by Sheraton.
Three days later, Rahman's son checked into the same hotel and was seen meeting with another man, a 19-year-old Mexican national, who also cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Two days before Christmas, December 23, 2018, Rahman left New Zealand but not before receiving a backpack full of cash.
Around the same time, a consignment of a kitchen stovetop shipped from the United States had been seized by Customs and examined. There was nearly 5kg of methamphetamine inside.
Then in February 2019, two separate consignments from the United States - a "waffle maker" and "coffee brewer"- were stopped at the border by Customs, each containing 2.9kg of methamphetamine.
The Comancheros established a chapter in New Zealand after key members were deported from Australia. Photo / Supplied
Rahman returned to New Zealand and was arrested by the National Organised Crime Group, along with the 19-year-old from Mexico and a 33-year-old Chinese man called Hui Wang. He was called the "Wire Guy" because he laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in wire transfers overseas.
Search warrants were also executed at the home linked to Rahman in Suva where Fijian Police discovered 39kg of cocaine, presumably destined for the Australian and New Zealand markets. The haul was worth about $20m.
