Alleged Head Hunters boss Wayne Doyle has returned to court seeking the release of about $200,000 seized by police to help pay his legal bills.
Doyle is still awaiting the decision of Justice Peter Andrew nearly nine months on from his civil trial, the culmination of a years-long case dubbed Operation Coin.
Police are attempting to force him to forfeit millions of dollars of assets they say he controls, including the Head Hunters East pad in Marua Rd, Ellerslie. Doyle denies he is in control of the assets and his lawyers say he is not the president of the Head Hunters.
Tuesday’s hearing in the Auckland High Court before Justice Andrew centred on a large sum restrained by police from the trust accounts of multiple lawyers who have acted for him in the past, whose names are suppressed in connection with the application and hearing.
Doyle is seeking the release of about $200,000 of the funds to pay his legal fees dating from before 2021, when the sum was retained from the trust accounts of his lawyers.
The lawyer representing Doyle at yesterday’s hearing argued he did not have the means to pay his legal fees via the unrestrained assets not seized by police.
He said the trusts and companies police claimed he controlled were not a potential source of funds.
“Those entities are not Mr Doyle,” he said.
“That has been the position throughout. It’s not his money. Those are not funds that are available to him.”
Doyle said he had now borrowed $190,000 to pay his legal fees from family and friends.
Prosecutor Mark Harborow, acting for the Commissioner of Police, argued on Tuesday that Doyle had not fully explored ways to obtain more funds for his legal fees from the assets the police are adamant he controls.
They include a property in central Auckland and several bedrooms at the Marua Rd pad, which Harborow said were rented at well below market rates to family members or Head Hunters.
He said Doyle could also use money held by a company linked to the gang. Harborow said at Doyle’s trial last year that he had been able to raise large sums for legal fees from Head Hunters members, funds police allege were derived from criminal activity.
“His ability to command money from Head Hunters for his legal retainers is entirely consistent with our case, that he sits at the apex and is in receipt of large amounts of funds,” Harborow said.
His trial heard police were able to track a $72,000 made from a Hong Kong bank account to Doyle’s trust account back to an Asian drug dealer who lived near the Marua Rd pad.
His lawyer, at the trial, rejected the suggestion at his trial that Doyle sits at the apex of the Head Hunters.
He said Doyle is not the “Teflon Don” police cast him as, reaping the rewards of the drug dealing and extortion committed by some of the gang’s members while staying clear of any actual involvement.
Instead, Doyle adopted a pastoral role, taking an interest in the welfare of younger members, his lawyer said.
Police are using the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 to try and obtain forfeiture orders against more than $15,000 of what they say are profits and assets tainted with the ill-gotten gains of the Head Hunters criminal activities, including drug dealing and standovers.
Doyle has not been convicted of any offence since he was last released from prison in 2001.
But under the act, police do not need a conviction.
They only have to prove an asset was tainted with even a dollar of money derived from criminal activities. They also have the benefit of the lower standard of proof in civil trials - “on the balance of probabilities” - rather than the “beyond reasonable doubt” standard in criminal trials.
Tuesday’s hearing hinged on Section 28 of the Act, viewed by defence lawyers who work in the area as a draconian section of a draconian law.
That section allows for some living costs to be met by property restrained by police, but does not allow a court to release any restrained funds for legal fees.
As a result, people in police sights under criminal proceeds legislation can be forced to rely on less experienced or specialised lawyers available via civil legal aid.
Doyle’s lawyers said the legal fees were incurred before the funds were restrained so should be able to be used.
Justice Andrew appeared to find some favour in arguments around Doyle having access to funds to satisfy legal costs.
“There’s quite an argument to be made that whatever the strength of the Crown’s case the respondent’s should have access to legal representation,” he said.
Under cross-examination from Harborow, Doyle said he had borrowed about $190,000 from friends and family to pay for his legal fees.
He said the other shareholders of East 88 Property Holding Limited - a holding company police say is effectively the Head Hunters - would be unwilling to release money it holds.
“Because that would make them broke. There’d be nothing in the kitty”
The money is held in cash for repairs and maintenance of the sprawling three-storey pad, with large gym and swimming pool, because banks no longer allow the Head Hunters to open accounts.
He said he was not in control of East 88 despite being listed as the sole director. In Head Hunters slang 88 is a byword for the gang, H being the 8th letter of the alphabet.
As at his trial, Doyle gave as good as he got in the witness box and often hit back at the prosecutor.
The court heard his only sources of income were payments from his work as a personal trainer and the pension.
Harborow, in cross-examination, asked why he only charged about $400 rent for a central Auckland home rented to a family member. He suggested Doyle was not making full use of the assets police claim he controls.
Doyle said the home was draughty and slipping off its piles.
“Why don’t we go at lunch-time and have a look at it? He asked Harborow.
“I’ll leave a key there for you.”
Justice Andrew reserved his decisions on both the application to free up the funds and the suppression of the names of the lawyers.
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