Surgeon's drug sales simply greed, says Crown prosecutor

Xiao-Zhong Chen

The driving force behind a former Auckland cardiologist's involvement in black market sales of drugs for methamphetamine manufacture was simply greed, the Crown prosecutor told Auckland District Court today.

In his closing remarks on the final day of the jury trial of Xiao-Zhong Chen, 55, Crown prosecutor David McNaughton said Chen was a highly respected cardiologist who had been denied recognition in New Zealand's medical circles because he was foreign.

"He had been held back and he had to prove himself to the old boys' club," Mr McNaughton said.

Chen had graduated from Chinese medical school in 1984 but had four times failed examinations in New Zealand to become a specialist.

"He is a decent, honest, hard-working man with a burning ambition to become a specialist," Mr McNaughton said.

"This meant the accused was still working in the public hospital system while his other colleagues were out playing golf."

Mr McNaughton said Chen agreed to buy thousands of boxes of Telfast for a discounted wholesale price ($12) and re-sell them to a 22-year-old Chinese student for $25 because "he could see the dollar signs".

Chen made $250,000 from November 2003 to August 2004 for the transactions.

Chen pleaded not guilty to seven charges of supplying a precursor substance (pseudoephedrine) for the use of a controlled drug.

- NZPA