More than $3 million was paid into the bank accounts of an illegal overstayer who told the Herald he was exploited as a ‘money mule’ in an alleged tax evasion scam in the kiwifruit industry. Now a second witness has come forward to show $10 million went through his bank accounts around the same time. Illustration / Paul Slater
More than $3 million was paid into the bank accounts of an illegal overstayer who told the Herald he was exploited as a ‘money mule’ in an alleged tax evasion scam in the kiwifruit industry. Now a second witness has come forward to show $10 million went through his bank accounts around the same time. Illustration / Paul Slater
A Herald investigation revealed how more than $3 million flowed through the bank accounts of an illegal migrant allegedly exploited by a tax evasion syndicate.
Detectives interviewed the ‘money mule’ about how he was allegedly kidnapped and assaulted.
Now a new witness has come forward with evidence that more than $10 million was deposited into his bank accounts by the same syndicate.
More than $10 million went through the bank accounts of an overseas student allegedly exploited by a tax fraud syndicate in the Bay of Plenty kiwifruit industry, according to an ongoing Herald investigation.
The money was deposited in sums of up to $10,000 - often more than 20 times ina single day - over just six months, then immediately withdrawn as cash.
The student says he was not even in the country at the time these millions of dollars were flowing through his accounts between August 2021 and February 2022.
He was overseas when New Zealand went into lockdown in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and unable to return because the borders were closed.
While he was gone, the student alleges an associate in Te Puke, east of Tauranga, found his banking passwords and changed them to take control of the accounts.
On returning to New Zealand in 2022, he discovered the bank had closed the accounts because of the numerous suspicious transactions.
The $10.5m in deposits and cash withdrawals are linked to the same tax evasion syndicate previously exposed in an ongoing Herald investigation.
Last week, the Herald revealed how more than $3.2m went through the bank accounts of an overstayer allegedly exploited as a ‘money mule’ by a group he called ‘The Syndicate’.
Over six months, tens of thousands of dollars would be deposited into the ‘money mule’s’ bank account each week.
He would then withdraw the cash from ATMs, and give the money to his ‘handler’ who worked for The Syndicate.
The ‘handler’ in that earlier case is the same person who allegedly also hijacked the student’s bank accounts.
“When I asked ‘who used my bank accounts?’ I was told to forget everything,” the student told the Herald. “And if I talked again, they would kill me,” he claimed.
Now living here without a visa, the former student has provided the bank statements to Inland Revenue investigators and been interviewed by them.
As part of the same investigation, Inland Revenue has also interviewed the ‘money mule’ who featured in the Herald last week.
The ‘money mule’ has also been interviewed by detectives in the Tauranga CIB about being allegedly kidnapped and assaulted when he threatened to blow the whistle on the tax evasion scam.
“They said ‘Keep your mouth shut, don’t go to police, don’t go to authorities. If you talk, I will kill you’,” he said of the alleged kidnapping.
“They were punching me, hitting me. I was very frightened.”
He did not report the alleged assault to the police at the time because, as an illegal immigrant, he was scared about being deported or going to prison in New Zealand himself for money laundering.
Zespri, which sells billions of dollars of fruit each year globally on behalf of New Zealand growers, says any labour exploitation is unacceptable and it invests considerable resources each year to stop rogue contractors.
The company uses specialist investigators to find evidence of labour exploitation and tax evasion, with offenders blacklisted from the industry and reported to authorities.
While Inland Revenue (IR) and the labour inspectors from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) do investigate and prosecute complaints, those who control the sham companies often stay out of reach by using ‘front men’ to distance themselves from the crime.
The practice of paying workers under the table in cash is also a known method of money laundering the profits of criminal activity like drug dealing.
Casey Costello, the associate Police Minister, says the issues outlined in this story are the reason why she established an expert panel to advise the government on organised crime. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Cabinet Minister Casey Costello said the issues outlined by the Herald investigation were the reasons why an expert panel was established earlier this year to advise the Government on how to tackle organised crime.
Government agencies had to improve not only information-sharing and collaboration to identify organised crime, said Costello, but to “connect up the approach” to investigations and prosecutions.
“To achieve this, we need to be very clear that our priority is not only delivering protections against exploitation, but holding perpetrators accountable.”
Earlier this week, the Herald asked Police National Headquarters if the police would expand the scope of the investigation into the alleged ‘money mule’ kidnapping and work with Inland Revenue and Immigration New Zealand (part of MBIE) to look at the wider issues.
A spokesperson said police were “aware of general concerns” with some parts of the horticulture sector associated with worker exploitation and allegations of organised crime involvement.
“For obvious reasons, Police will not divulge details of any active or contemplated investigation activity except to say that we work collaboratively with other partners such as IR and MBIE on matters of joint interest where appropriate.”
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland, Gangster’s Paradise and Underworld.
