Xavier Valent enters the dock on the first day of his trial at the Auckland High Court. Photo / Michael Craig
The alleged shadowy overseas mastermind of a cartel that imported tonnes of drugs into New Zealand is finally standing trial almost three years after he was extradited from Italy.
Crown prosecutor Fiona Culliney told a jury on Wednesday that former Auckland man Xavier Valent was the kingpin of a sprawling syndicate that brought masses of Class A and B drugs into New Zealand while extracting about $26 million of cash overseas via a corrupt money remitter.
Five alleged former accomplices of Valent, also known as Harry Whitehead, are set to turn Crown witnesses and give evidence in his trial. All have name suppression.
They received sentence discounts for agreeing to give evidence, the jury heard.
The trial, set down for six weeks, will also feature evidence from senior detectives, customs officers, a handwriting expert and a man who administered lie detector tests allegedly at Valent’s behest after he became worried his workers were stealing from him.
Valent denies more than 100 charges covering the alleged importation and supply of methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy) and meth-precursor chemical ephedrine.
He is standing trial alongside Terrique Treasurer at the Auckland High Court before Justice Sally Fitzgerald.
Prosecutors say Treasurer was for a time a key lieutenant in a sophisticated drug ring led by Valent, entrusted with large amounts of cash to pay a sprawling network of workers.
Certain workers called “catchers” were responsible for picking up parcels of goods in which Class A or B drugs were hidden inside everything from books to truck exhausts, the Crown claims.
It is alleged others in the chain were responsible for deliveries, storage, manufacturing or drying and preparing drugs.
Valent has elected to represent himself in the trial.
On Monday, during the jury empanelling, Valent used three of the four “challenges” he is entitled to by law in order to reject certain members of the jury pool chosen at random from a large group of potential jurors.
A jury was eventually formed on Wednesday morning and the trial began in earnest, followed shortly after by a dramatic outburst from the dock.
Valent, who until then had remained silent, rejected the legitimacy of the trial when asked by court staffer how he pleaded to the first set of charges.
“I refuse to participate in this trial,” he said.
“I refuse to participate in the process.
“Should this trial proceed under the present circumstances I deem it a railroading and want no part in it.”
Surprise reigned in the court as Justice Fitzgerald sent the jury out for a time.
When he returned from conferring with a lawyer appointed to assist him in his self-representation, he entered not-guilty pleas to all charges. He remained quiet for the rest of the day’s proceedings.
Treasurer also entered not guilty pleas to the charges he jointly faces with Valent, alleging drug importation, manufacture and supply from 2017 to 2019.
Culliney’s opening remarks painted a picture for the jury of Valent as an international drug mastermind pulling the strings of the syndicate from overseas as he spent several years overseas on the run from New Zealand police.
“This case is about an organised drug syndicate bringing in large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy and ephedrine from all over the world, she said.
“The leader of that drug syndicate was Mr Xavier Valent, sitting over there in the dock.”
Culliney described Valent’s alleged rise from a relatively small-scale dealer to a drug boss who raked in millions at the height of his powers.
At one stage, some of his minions took a yacht over to Tonga with a plan to bring back half a tonne of methamphetamine strapped to its hull, the Crown alleges.
They bungled the plan and were arrested, with the fate of the meth unclear.
Culliney told the jury Valent was convicted over a decade ago for the possession and supply of LSD, MDMA and cocaine and spent nearly six years in prison.
While behind bars, he allegedly became close with a man who would go on to help him start importing drugs, starting with ephedrine that was sold to be used in methamphetamine production, Culliney said.
When the accomplice was jailed on unrelated matters he approached the man’s mother and brother, who agreed to provide addresses where he could have drugs delivered.
Customs caught wind of this alleged activity in 2016 and Valent fled the country.
Officials then raided a garage he had rented and found 11kg of ephedrine, a firearm, ammunition and a money counting device, Culliney said.
Between 2016 and 2020, when he was arrested at Italy’s border on an Interpol warrant and deported to New Zealand, Valent was continually arranging for drugs to be imported into the country, the Crown claims
In that time he allegedly arranged for at least $26 million of cash to be funnelled into his accounts in bitcoin via a corrupt money remitter based in Newmarket.
“This was a big business, members of the jury,” Culliney said.
Most of the alleged importation involved simply sending drugs through the post concealed in everyday items.
Some were caught but many made it through.
His New Zealand logistical network expanded as people recruited friends, colleagues and family members to serve as part of the syndicate’s complex logistical web, the jury heard.
But investigators were making gradual progress untangling the web. A raid on Valent’s former flat in Freemans Bay allegedly uncovered names of customers on “tick lists” of people with drug debts.
A pivotal moment was a fire in late August 2019 in a downtown Auckland apartment allegedly used by Valent’s workers.
When emergency services arrived they found huge quantities of drugs. A pair arrested after the fire co-operated with police and said they were aware they were “working for someone called Harry” - Valent’s former name - Culliney said.
Culliney’s opening remarks will continue on Thursday, after which Valent and lawyers for Treasurer will have the opportunity to address the jury.