Police made 10 arrests and their Asset Recovery Unit restrained more than $10 million in assets as part of Operation Ida. Video / New Zealand Police
The husband of the St Heliers woman who laundered millions for a trans-national drug cartel has dodged a conviction after successfully arguing it would impede his ability to travel to China for business.
“This man shouldn’t be blighted with a conviction,” said David Jones KC of his client Zhenhua “Joshua”Qian.
The 61-year-old consultant appeared for sentencing in the Auckland District Court on Thursday morning before Judge Belinda Sellars KC after he was found guilty of obtaining by deception.
He stood in the dock to learn his fate beside Tianyi Pan, found guilty of two counts of the same charge.
Qian was a minority shareholder in Lidong Foreign Exchange, a money-remitting business run by his wife and co-owner Ye “Cathay” Hua, the sole director.
Pan was an employee of Lidong. He was described as naïve and eager to please.
Hua was found guilty last month after a lengthy trial of laundering more than $25 million of dirty cash for Xavier Valent, the globetrotting modern-day Mr Asia who ran one of New Zealand’s largest drug rings ever.
Xavier Valent, also known as Harry Whitehead, travelled the world while running an international drug syndicate before he was caught at the culmination of Operation Mystic.
The jury in Hua’s trial heard she turned a blind eye to various red flags indicating the illicit origin of the cash.
They included the fact it would sometimes arrive in supermarket bags delivered by erratic drug runners and contaminated with white powder such that it needed to be literally washed before it was figuratively laundered to overseas accounts.
Qian and Hua lived in a $4m home overlooking the harbour in Springcombe Rd, St Heliers until it was raided by police and seized at the termination of the money laundering investigation, dubbed Operation Ida, in 2021.
The operation used convert surveillance, including a hidden listening device in Lidong’s Kent St office in the backstreets of Newmarket.
Detectives intercepted phone calls and used seized phones to obtain messages between Hua and Valent on encrypted messaging platforms.
The home Hua and Qian owned in Springcombe Rd, St Heliers was raided by police in 2021.
She is now on bail awaiting sentencing, facing a maximum of seven years in jail after she was found guilty of 15 of 19 money laundering charges.
Obtaining by deception carries the same maximum possible term of imprisonment.
Qian uploaded documents to the Companies Office for a third-party company that then obtained two bank accounts to be used by Lidong.
His actions were part of a well-known practice used by money-remitting companies of using third-party accounts since about 2016, when Kiwi banks began a blanket policy of closing any and all accounts used by remitters, claiming they represented too much of a money laundering risk.
“His role in this was borne out of necessity,” Jones said.
“Many money remitters would be doing the same thing.”
Qian works as a business consultant with significant interests in China.
He holds an APEC card, allowing him to travel between New Zealand and China visa-free. He also sometimes needs to travel overseas at short notice because of an unwell daughter, the court heard.
A conviction could scupper his ability to travel, Jones said.
“What we’re looking at here is a man of hitherto blameless character, who [did] something the jury has found was wrong,” he said.
Ye (Cathay) Hua, the director of Lidong Foreign Exchange, stood trial in the Auckland District Court for money laundering and was found guilty of the bulk of the charges, covering more than $25m of transactions.
“As far as the consequences are concerned, they would be quite dire for him.”
Pan, 42, was an employee of Lidong who helped open two third-party accounts to be used by the money-remitting company.
His lawyer Esther Kim also sought a discharge without conviction.
He enjoyed no financial gain from the offending, had no prior blemishes and would face real employment consequences if convicted, Kim said.
The applications for discharge without conviction were opposed by the Crown.
Judge Sellars said both men appeared to mistakenly genuinely believe they were justified in opening third-party accounts to be used by Lidong.
Pan did more, the court heard, but Qian was higher up the chain.
“Mr Pan appears to be a naïve person who was eager to please and did what he was told,” Judge Sellars said.
“He appears to have very much learned a lesson.”
Qian and Hua’s assets had been seized as a result of the prosecution of both husband and wife and their ability to support themselves would be severely compromised by a conviction, Judge Sellars said.
The Judge granted discharges without conviction for both men and they walked from court.
Hua is appearing for sentencing in the Auckland District Court on November 16. The Crown is expected to seek a prison term.
Read the Herald’s full coverage of Ye Hua’s trial:
