Police freeze $2.5m cash seized in drug inquiry

Nearly $2.5 million in cash believed to be from drugs has been frozen in the largest confiscation yet under new powers allowing police to seize unexplained wealth from suspected criminals.

Detectives executing a search warrant on the Know-All Group premises - a foreign exchange shop opposite SkyCity casino in central Auckland - found stacks of cash alleged to be the profits of drug dealing.

The business was run by the late Liang Han Shih, who was bugged by police and heard talking with an alleged methamphetamine dealer in 2006 about sending money "to the other side".

The pair were regular gamblers at the casino, where Mr Shih spent nearly $11 million a year as a VIP high-roller.

Money-laundering charges were laid against the Know-All Group after police found stacks of cash totalling nearly $2.5 million in the Victoria St premises in December 2006. The money was stashed in drawers, in a safe, in a backpack, under a bed, in the wardrobe and behind a fax machine.

However, the money-laundering charges have been dropped after the death of Mr Shih.

Instead, the Crown has successfully applied to the High Court at Auckland to freeze the money under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.

The law came into force in December, replacing one which required police to prove to the high standard of "beyond reasonable doubt" that assets were criminal proceeds.

They will now have to prove only to the much lower civil threshold of "on the balance of probabilities" - essentially placing the onus on the owners to prove where they got the assets.

The Herald reported last week that police had seized $7.4 million of frozen gang assets in the first two months of the new legislation. The $2.5 million found at Know-All Group is the single largest case so far.

The assets will remain frozen while prosecutions are mounted and, if successful, they will pass to the Crown.