Comancheros trial: Pasilika Naufahu found guilty of money laundering

A jury has found Comancheros boss Pasilika Naufahu guilty of money laundering and drug charges.

Naufahu was found guilty of two money laundering charges - one in respect of a Ford Ranger and the other a $102,075 Bentley.

He and fellow Comanchero Connor Clausen were found guilty of conspiring to supply the Class B drug pseudoephedrine in September 2018.

A woman, who has name suppression, has also been found guilty of helping the gang launder money in July and August 2018.

Pasilika Naufahu, Comanchero MC president, pictured during the first day of his trial. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Their shared trial ran for four weeks in the High Court at Auckland before entering a fifth week for jury deliberations.

Justice Graham Lang said it was a big imposition for the jury to give so many weeks of their time to the case and thanked them for their service.

"You as members of the public are welcome to attend the sentencing," the High Court judge told them.

Justice Lang convicted all three defendants.

Naufahu will be sentenced on November 24 and Clausen on December 9.

The prosecution

The three were arrested after a covert investigation into the activities of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club, code-named Operation Nova.

Naufahu was the president of the gang's Auckland chapter.

More than 80 police officers were involved in the raids, which led to about $4m of assets being seized, including firearms and several luxury vehicles such as a Rolls-Royce Wraith and gold-plated Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Late-model Range Rovers were among the assets seized in Operation Nova. Photo / Supplied

During the High Court trial the Crown case against Naufahu included that the money moved for the Ford Ranger and the Bentley could not be explained by employment.

The defence case, led by Ron Mansfield, argued that the gang leader had numerous sources of income and the Crown had not proven where the money came from.

During the trial a charge of money laundering and one of conspiracy to import a Class A drug were dismissed for Naufahu.

Naufahu was also accused, with Clausen, of conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine in September 2018.

The Crown alleged Clausen - lower down in the gang chain - was to deliver money, inspect the drugs and deliver them to the Comancheros boss.

Connor Clausen pictured during the first day of the Operation Nova trial in the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Clausen was captured on film for just over two minutes meeting an alleged drug smuggler and He Sha in September 2018.

The latter, an Australian hairdresser, was sentenced this year in the Auckland District Court to three years' imprisonment.

At Sha's sentencing Judge Claire Ryan said he had come to New Zealand with "the purpose of committing a crime".

Australian hairdresser He Sha (centre in mask). Photo / Sam Hurley

Also in the dock for the lengthy High Court trial was the woman, who cannot be named under the suppression order.

Her defence had maintained she thought what she was doing was legal and she did not know of any connection to the Comancheros.

But the prosecution said she and another man joked the money could be coming from gangs like the Comancheros or the Head Hunters.

"The point of the joke has to be that this could well be dirty money," Crown prosecutor David Johnstone had said.

"It is an odd job isn't it? Being paid to deposit money."

The trial started with five defendants but that number dropped by two when several charges were withdrawn.

A media personality was cleared and released from the trial, and accountant Wiwini Himi Hakaraia was cleared of most charges but fined $2000 for possession of cocaine at the "top end".

Four charges against Hakaraia were dismissed, and he pleaded guilty to two amended charges of possession of a Class A drug.