Police go after gang member’s KiwiSaver | Case By Case

[00:00:10]Kyoto. My name is Ji and welcome to Casey by Case. This is an open justice podcast brought to you by the New Zealand Herald with support from New Zealand on air. Every week we are looking at a different case that's making the headlines and then spending some time looking at the justice system behind it. Now, I'm joined by Rick Stevens, wonderful open justice reporter, and you've got um well, a story that's about a lot of money that was gained illegally, right? Well, not just just money, but like assets and a big value. So, tell me a little bit about this story. Um >> that also includes a bid to confiscate a gang member's Kiwi Saver.

[00:00:49]>> Yeah, that's what stood out for me. I had haven't seen that before. I mean, Ky save is in the news a lot at the moment anyway, but this is a kind of a different take on it.

[00:00:58]>> So, this is about the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act 2009, >> right?

[00:01:03]>> So, this is the piece of legislation that says crime shouldn't pay.

[00:01:09]>> Mhm.

[00:01:09]>> And if people are making money out of criminal activities, then it should be confiscated.

[00:01:14]>> The story you've got here is about a fellow called Luc Bolster. What's his story? Well, he he was a member of the Common Cherros motorcycle club or the Common Cherros motorcycle gang as the police tend to call them. Uh he was based down in Timu. He was he used to go up to Christet for meetings and so on.

[00:01:32]And he is now serving 8 years and 8 months in prison for uh running a drug ring out of Timu, >> right?

[00:01:40]>> Basically. And um because he was involved in that criminal activity, the police have gone out after his assets, they've calculated that he's made $750,000 from drug dealing.

[00:01:55]>> That's his personal kind of that's the that's the value that they've put on his the work that he's been doing, but it's part of a bigger investigation from a bigger investigation.

[00:02:06]>> This is that's him himself. He's he's moved they reckon around 3 and a half kg of meth and cocaine.

[00:02:13]>> So in their calculation that's worth about $750,000.

[00:02:19]>> So they took away his uh well they they I'll be precise they obtained restraining orders on his Land Rover, >> his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, >> and on the $55,000 that he happened to have lying around his house. Right.

[00:02:39]>> Much of which was in a laundry basket.

[00:02:41]Um just in cash, >> different kind of money laundering.

[00:02:44][laughter] >> But when they done that, they they added up what it was worth. And uh yes, >> he's just got the truck.

[00:02:50]>> Yeah. Sorry.

[00:02:51]>> Sorry. I've been waiting I've been waiting to drop that in. Then it didn't land.

[00:02:54]>> Very slow on the uptake. [clears throat] Glad you got there. Yeah. Got there in the end. Um >> but when they added up the value of what what they had obtained restraining order over and it came to about $93,000, which is well short of 750,000. So, you know, we don't know what what's happened to the rest of the money that he supposedly made. So, they then went back to the court to obtain another restraining order over his Kiwis saver account, which I I just haven't seen it anywhere else before in in in these proceedings.

[00:03:21]>> It's not to say it hasn't happened. You just haven't seen it. This is But this is certainly the first time we've seen it in the news. Okay. So, that is probably the fact that you haven't seen it means it's probably a relatively unusual move.

[00:03:31]>> Well, yeah, it's it's kind of stood out.

[00:03:32]And the fact that they went back for a second go particularly over his Kiwi saver. They got a production order to say how much was in his which was $43,000 which is less than the cash he had in his house but >> less than the cash was in the laundry basket.

[00:03:45]>> Yeah. Um but they'll say well we'll have that too. The Kiwi Saver account possibly that you know that was a Kiwi saver account he accumulated before he did all the drug dealing maybe. And >> do you think he's so devastated by the state of New Zealand super that [laughter] to selling drugs? But the um I think the thing is that there his it's like, you know, think about an envelope that that the police have have determined that he is liable for $750,000. They're well short of that.

[00:04:13]>> Yeah.

[00:04:13]>> What else is there that could help make up the balance? The court, you know, potentially might be able to say, well, actually, no, this this this was something that he earned legitimately >> before he did this.

[00:04:24]>> Correct me if I'm wrong. they do have the right to say, well, you the assets that we have and the cash that we've found isn't enough. It's nowhere close to that 750,000 [clears throat] that you have um you know, the value that we've put on the the criminal activity that you've received. Therefore, even though the Kiwi Saver might not have been tied to criminal activity, you still owe that.

[00:04:50]>> Well, I think that's the police position.

[00:04:52]>> Yeah. Right. We'll we won't know, I don't think, what his position is because he's decided not or apparently he hasn't opposed it so far, right?

[00:05:00]>> They served the papers on him in prison and said, you know, we're going to do this >> and he didn't respond or appoint a lawyer to find out.

[00:05:05]>> He's one of those people just doesn't check his Kiwi saver and he's just didn't realize it was there.

[00:05:09]>> Maybe or maybe he's, you know, he's in prison.

[00:05:13]Um the sentence was 8 years and 8 months, right?

[00:05:16]>> So, he's going to be there for a little while yet. And maybe he thought that was the least of his problems. You know, we mentioned the big investigation into the common shiro. Um there was let's talk about some numbers around the >> Yeah. I mean, and and this is um so he was one of the commoners.

[00:05:33]>> Yeah. So um and the common heroes I mean they they originated in Australia uh but they formed a New Zealand chapter in 2018 after a whole bunch of them were deported as 501's >> right >> and within a few years they established themselves as a significant organized criminal group. Um they were dealing drugs in bulk um and money laundering millions of dollars. uh and they had this um this vision if you like that that uh to become uh number one in the criminal underworld. It's almost like a corporate vision statement.

[00:06:09]>> Is that just the New Zealand chapter or just so common heroes in general?

[00:06:12]>> No, no, in in terms of [snorts] >> so they were, you know, they were doing things at scale. Um and Bolstat was, you know, one of many who fell victim to uh a police operation called Operation A, which rounded up the whole of the Christ Church chapter of the of the Common Cheros.

[00:06:30]>> Was he a deport? Was he a 501?

[00:06:32]>> I'm not sure that he was actually because he >> been recruited.

[00:06:36]>> Yeah. Well, he's he'd only been in the common since 2023. And before that, he was in the rebels.

[00:06:40]>> Oh, okay.

[00:06:41]>> I don't know if he's a 501 or not, but he was he was >> he's a relatively recent recruit to the And the commentary has patched over a whole bunch of rebels right into them, >> right?

[00:06:52]>> And [clears throat] and police under Operation Avon have seized um well, apart from 200 kg methamphetamine, uh firearms, real estate properties, 1.25 million in cash, 250 electronic devices and so on.

[00:07:07]>> Do we would we have a value on the whole lot?

[00:07:10]>> Well, the thing is it's still going on.

[00:07:12]You know, I mean, they've been making arrests, you know, very recently still.

[00:07:15]So, so uh which have involved other members of the commoner. One of the the fact is that there was a mansion in Half Moon Bay in Oakland was worth $3.8 million and that was part of the um proceeds of crime.

[00:07:28]>> What were they using the mansion for?

[00:07:29]Were they were they living there or >> Yeah, it was registered to one person officially, but another member's family were living there basically.

[00:07:37]>> And and I I'm fascinated by the motorcycles.

[00:07:40]>> Police received a number of vehicles including six goldplated motorcycles.

[00:07:44]played motorcycles. I mean, it's not subtle, is it?

[00:07:46]>> No, it's not. [laughter] >> You're honing around in a goldplated.

[00:07:50]Were they just storing them? I mean, I suppose you don't know.

[00:07:52]>> I think they're like trophies.

[00:07:53]>> Yeah, of course.

[00:07:54]>> Um, they're aspirational. I mean, you know, this is like having a lifestyle magazine with aspirational sort of little goodies in them that you might aspire to.

[00:08:03]>> What's happened to those motorcycles?

[00:08:04]>> They've been crushed.

[00:08:05]>> They've been crushed.

[00:08:05]>> Well, police said that if they sold them, one way or another, they were going to find their way back, >> right? either to the commentaries or to people who were very much like them because it's, you know, that sort of >> didn't even take the part for parts.

[00:08:18]Didn't melt down the gold.

[00:08:20]>> No.

[00:08:20]>> No.

[00:08:21]>> They put them in the crusher and then they release video of them.

[00:08:24]>> So they had evidence. So there wasn't >> So they It's kind of a statement, you know, with the police. We're going to crush these gold plates.

[00:08:30]>> Yeah. Right. It wasn't a Judith Collins call, was it?

[00:08:34]first the boy races and then the goldplated um Harley-Davidson before the money for for someone like Lu Kane Bolstad um can be handed over to the crown.

[00:08:45]>> Is there anything else that needs to happen logistically? Do they just sort of they find this $55,000 in his bedside table and in his laundry basket?

[00:08:55]>> Um and then they put in their application to to seize it. Yeah, >> I'm just trying to get my the order of things straight.

[00:09:04]>> So, it will go into the custody of someone called the official asigny >> who is an official of the Ministry of Business and Innovation and >> MBIE and that person also does things like >> bankruptcies and what have you, >> that person will have custody of it.

[00:09:19]Then when or if the final forfeiture order is made then the that person will realize the assets >> and then of course what happens to the money goes to the crown and what does the crown spend it on but we are going to discuss that and also you know >> all the other things there are to talk about in terms of the criminal proceeds recovery act. Yeah.

[00:09:40]>> Do I get that right? Okay. We're going to talk about that after the break.

[00:09:43]We'll be [music] back soon.

[00:09:49]You're with case by case from the open justice team at the New Zealand Herald made with support from New Zealand on air. My name is Jane Ye and joining me for an explainer about the criminal proceeds recovery act with the recovery in brackets. Yes.

[00:10:03]>> I have to ask you about that in a second. [clears throat] >> 2009 >> 2009 is Rick Stevens from the open justice team. What is this act? What is it designed to do and why is the recovery in brackets? Um I think [laughter] >> did I give you a curly one?

[00:10:18]>> Yeah. Well, I could imagine some some cler in in parliamentary clark's office um wrote it that way, I guess. But but I mean quite often you do you get that >> the bracket thing is is quite common.

[00:10:28]>> Is quite common.

[00:10:29]>> Okay. It shows you're the expert and I'm not. So >> I mean I guess it's about criminal proceeds and this is about recovering them. And that's the point of it is that um the police, the government authorities uh became determined the crime shouldn't pay.

[00:10:44]>> Yeah.

[00:10:44]>> And so that if you're engaged in criminal activity uh and it can be shown that you are, then you should lose the money that you made from it.

[00:10:54]>> Is it something that um applies more broadly than gangs? cuz I feel like, you know, we we hear the stories about um seizing of gang assets and that kind of thing that have come from from um criminal activity, but where else do we see this?

[00:11:09]>> Oh, any anybody who's been involved in in any sort of criminal thing, that's that's I mean, that's why people do crime, isn't it? To get themselves a return. But I guess, you know, there is a threshold in the sense that it has to be uh something that they've amassed. I mean, if you're doing petty crime and and you're sort of, you know, you're stealing stuff to eat or whatever, you're not really amassing assets.

[00:11:32]>> Um, but what the police will do is they'll get your you'll get your, you know, whatever you've declared to IRD and notice that you've been living on a benefit and then they'll look at your bank account and say, "How come you've got $100,000 in there that you couldn't possibly have got from >> Right. So, the onus is on you is to prove." Well, yeah, it is because there's a different standard of proof here.

[00:11:54]>> All right.

[00:11:55]>> So, somebody does a crime and they get prosecuted for that in the criminal court.

[00:12:00]>> Mhm.

[00:12:01]>> And if you don't admit it, it's got to be proved beyond reasonable doubt.

[00:12:05]That's the everybody knows that's the standard of proof in the criminal court.

[00:12:08]Proceeds of crime cases are civil cases where the standard of proof is a balance of probabilities. So, >> and is that the case for all civil cases or is that justice? Okay. Okay. So, it's a civil case that's separate from the criminal case and runs at the same time.

[00:12:23]>> At the same time, sometimes before sometimes you actually know that there are criminal cases in train because they come up in in the >> But don't you need to know that someone's guilty of something before you can say that something's or you just holding on to it?

[00:12:37]>> Well, yes. So, it's a two-stage process.

[00:12:39]First of all, the police will obtain a restraining order.

[00:12:41]>> Yeah.

[00:12:42]>> And the reason for that is to stop the stuff being disposed of.

[00:12:46]>> Right. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. And then some months down the track perhaps after the criminal case has been settled they will then go for a forfeiture order at which point the the property the asset whatever it is is realized sold cashed up >> raises the theoretical sort of situation where someone might actually get acquitted >> on the criminal charges.

[00:13:10]>> But in the civil case the balance of probability says well probably you did get this money from your criminal activity. So it's still liable, >> right?

[00:13:19]>> Yeah.

[00:13:20]>> Okay. And then uh and and of course the civil court can make, you know, make decisions about what then happens. So what does happen if say I've um I've been I've I've had a very healthy doug t trade. Uh I've got myself a lovely $2 million house just on the outskirts of Hearn Bay in Oakland. Um but oops. I've been found out. Yeah. What what happens?

[00:13:43]You're liable to lose it if it's determined that that is quote tainted >> by your criminal activity.

[00:13:50]>> It might not be your house, >> not [laughter] >> I don't have a $2 million house on the outskirts of Hearn Bay. Don't you worry about that.

[00:13:58]>> But, you [clears throat] know, there have been cases where people have been living in a house that's, you know, registered to, for instance, their parents or what have you.

[00:14:05]>> And they've spent a lot of money >> maybe putting in a new kitchen and a new deck and things like that. and uh it's increased in value and they've come along and said, "Well, that property is now tainted by criminal activity."

[00:14:17]>> Right.

[00:14:18]>> Even though it doesn't belong to you, the criminal, >> we're going to go for it anyway.

[00:14:23]>> Mom and dad could lose their house with a nice new deck.

[00:14:25]>> Yeah.

[00:14:26]>> Right. How do they figure out the dollar value?

[00:14:30]>> Is there an algorithm or is it just quite is it quite simple?

[00:14:36]>> Well, it's hard math, isn't it?

[00:14:37]>> It's hard math.

[00:14:38]>> So, you know, we're into the realm of hard math. What I can say is that there are specialist sort of investigators in the asset recovery unit of the police who are doing these hard sums and coming up with an argument if you might say that this is what the result of that criminal activity is. It may be on the cash flow through your accounts for instance. It may then add on any any cash that they find in your premises.

[00:15:02]And in the criminal world cash is king because you if you're dealing in cash they can't people can't trace the transactions. So there are quite often large amounts of cash sitting around. Um we're talking tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars quite commonly.

[00:15:17]>> Sometimes neatly sort of vacuum packed into uh little bundles or 50 little notes. Um and police will add all that up and come with a figure that says this is this is the amount of money that we believe this person has made from their criminal activity and so this is what should be forfeited. It's a two-stage process, right, around these assets because at some point there needs to be confirmation that or someone has to make a decision that this stuff is from the proceeds of crime.

[00:15:46]>> Yeah.

[00:15:47]>> So, you can't just sort of go, "Oh, look, there's a there's a lovely house.

[00:15:50]We're just going to sell that cuz we think it is." What what happens in the interim before?

[00:15:53]>> Yes. It is a two-stage process. The reason is this is that you know imagine not not that I think you are but you know imagine you're a criminal >> okay >> and uh you know that you're going to get prosecuted for something >> and your house is going to be on the line. What are you going to do? You're going to try and >> I'm going to flick it off as quickly as possible >> or >> or I'm transferring ownership. or if you got lots of bling, then maybe you >> So, the first thing the police will do is they'll go for a a restraining order >> and um and it's done without notice quite often, which means that they'll just go to the court.

[00:16:26]>> Mhm.

[00:16:27]>> Surprise, surprise.

[00:16:29]These assets are now restrained.

[00:16:30]>> How do they know about all the assets?

[00:16:32]>> Because that's from their records.

[00:16:34]That's what they collect people. They do hard maths and um >> you know, they've got property records and and so on. So there's in addition to the criminal investigation, there'll be another investigation going on about >> where this is. They get >> bank account looked at get production orders for that. They'll go to the IOD and say how much money is you know this person >> and obviously all very on the fly as to not >> well you don't want to broadcast what you're doing would [laughter] you? But they get the restraining order that says you can't flick off the house or you can't >> okay, >> you know this this Harley-Davidson registration number, you can't sell that quite quickly.

[00:17:12]>> We're going to babysit your Harley in your house until we figure out what's going on.

[00:17:15]>> Until we figure out what's going on and then some months later when other things have been sorted out, they'll go back to the court and apply for a forfeiture order which if the judge says, "Yep, I agree it's criminal proceeds.

[00:17:27]They should lose it." Then it gets then transferred permanently to the crown.

[00:17:32]>> Okay. So stuff's seized, it's held on to. Well, they figure everything out and then once the decision is made, >> yeah, >> goes to the crown. Yeah.

[00:17:41]>> And then what does the crown do with it?

[00:17:42]Does it ring fenced for anything?

[00:17:43]>> Yes, it does. It goes into into a fund.

[00:17:45]I'm just going to consult >> consult your notes >> my notes on this. Um, so there's uh it gets basically put back into offsetting the impacts of crime, I suppose.

[00:17:56]>> Okay. So it goes to something called the proceeds of crime fund which is managed by the ministry of justice. Some of the money might be used for crime prevention work um or rehabilitation of of people um distributed to one of 39 approved state or non-government agencies. So you have to be on the list to apply for money to do good works for money that's coming out of this.

[00:18:16]>> There is a world in the circle of life of this money and these assets >> that you get convicted you you go to jail. You come out of jail and some of the money >> Yeah.

[00:18:27]>> that may have been seized >> from your proceeds of crime is then being used to rehabilitate you.

[00:18:32]>> It could be, >> but it's at least being funneled into [clears throat] a more meaningful and positive >> or or it might go to crime prevention stuff which might be street furniture or better lighting in, you know, retail environments where people do ram rates for you. So, the idea of it is that it will be used to address the damage that's caused by the criminal act in one way or another. It's not going to be used to put speed bumps somewhere or to to um >> I don't know.

[00:18:58]>> I can't say that they haven't put speed.

[00:19:00][laughter] >> I suppose you could say if there's a lot of people speeding and you know that that could be ponying around technically illegal.

[00:19:08]>> Um okay, that's fascinating. Is there anything else that that you know you think we should know about the proceeds of >> of crime?

[00:19:15]>> It's it's large scale. I mean I think we have I mean I added up the numbers since it came into effect. I think I got to about 1.2 2 billion dollars has been >> uh seized over since 2009.

[00:19:28]>> Yeah. Right.

[00:19:28]>> You know, it's quite a significant amount of money. Some of the things they've taken in terms of real estate have been quite spectacular. Although they pay off the mortgage people holders first. So if you lose a property >> Okay.

[00:19:38]>> and there's a mortgage out of that property to back their creditors that they need to >> Yeah. They they do that. So So the actual realization if you have a $ 1.5 million property, they might not be taking 1.5 million from that. M m >> is there a world, Rick, where people can end up worse off? And I know that's a that's a big question and you can ask what worse off is, but purely mathematically based on kind of like where they were at financially before they did this criminal activity.

[00:20:08]>> Yeah. Um, so there's a case in Wellington of a couple who are running a massive burglary ring. I mean, we're talking about that they'd stolen about $2 million worth of >> Oh, it's quite a lot of stuff. Yeah. and the [clears throat] husband was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison. They had 15 houses and flats around Wellington and police went after them under the proceeds of crime law and there was a lot of legal wrangling and the couple were able to keep two of the properties uh but the rest was sold but they were sold on a falling market.

[00:20:37]>> Right? So even though the amount of money that that they they were going to lose under proceeds of crime was capped, by the time the properties were sold, they were worth a lot less than had been originally calculated and it basically wiped out their equity.

[00:20:53]>> Right.

[00:20:53]>> And so yes, they ended up disproportionately >> crime doesn't pay.

[00:20:56]>> Absolutely. Crime doesn't pay, right?

[00:20:58]That's that's the point.

[00:20:59]>> Thank you very much for explaining all that to us. It's been really interesting talking to you today. Thank you so much.

[00:21:04]That is case by case brought to you by the New Zealand Herald Open Justice Team along with support from New Zealand on air. My name's Jane Ye. Thank you for joining us.

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