Patrick Gower: Change of fortunes with Cleven clause

Police seized the assets of Peter Cleven but had to give it all back. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Forget about innocent until proven guilty.

For suspected criminals with unexplained fortunes it will now be guilty first, try and talk your way out of it later.

The long-overdue measure has been called the Cleven clause: a law born out of the justice system's failure to seize the assets of alleged drug lord Peter "Pedro" Cleven.

Cleven was the Head Hunters gang member accused of making a fortune from cannabis and methamphetamine.

He had a palatial Titirangi home, a Harley-Davidson motorbike, Mercedes-Benz convertible and a speedboat.

Police seized it all in 2000, after bugging conversations in which he boasted of making a million dollars a year from methamphetamine.

But they had to give it all back when Cleven was acquitted after two controversial trials.

His explanation for the wealth included such claims as an innovative method of angora-goat farming or by "taxing" other criminals.

But without a conviction on the drugs charges, it didn't matter: the assets had to go back no matter what the explanation.

The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act which comes into force next week will turn the tables on the Clevens of the underworld.

The measure was introduced to Parliament by Labour almost five years ago but has only finally wriggled its way into law.

That it has taken so long is an indictment on the politicians who have prevaricated rather than the police officers who have long made it clear they were hamstrung when dealing with clever criminals.

Police can now seize assets under a civil standard of proof.

That means on the balance of probabilities (a 51:49 per cent chance) that the assets have been gained via nefarious means, rather than the much higher criminal threshold of beyond reasonable doubt.

The onus is now on the criminals to prove where they got them from.

Asset bases of over $30,000 can all be targeted: a level easily triggered by the ubiquitous Harley-Davidsons and late-model Holdens in the gang world.

As Commissioner Howard Broad indicated yesterday, police already know where these guys are.

They know who has the nice home, the lifestyle block, the Coromandel getaway.

Much tough talk is often used in the "war on organised crime", but this measure finally deals a genuine blow.

Broad's stance that it would not have an effect straight away, but would grow over time, showed its true strength - it will not easily be sidestepped by criminals.

That police were able to freeze $80 million of assets under the flawed legislation shows how effective the new version can be as that is just a fraction of the estimated $1 billion a year methamphetamine trade.

The detectives assigned to the assets recovery unit will be stalking fertile ground.

Another blow has come through the police's new Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand, which this week took on the Tribesmen gang in Northland in its first operation.

But perhaps the most telling blow of all came through Commissioner Broad and Police Minister Judith Collins standing alongside each other yesterday and talking of government departments as varied as Inland Revenue and the Serious Fraud Office working with police against organised crime.

It should not take police five years to get the powers they need again.