A corrupt motorbike licence instructor who falsified hundreds of licences, mostly for the criminal underworld, has been released on parole telling the board how the whole thing “snowballed” and got out of control, writes Sam Sherwood.
For about three years Petre Kalinowski had been able to live his life of corruption without coming to the attention of authorities.
From his remote home business in Westport, a town in the West Coast, known for being both a gold and coal town, he had been falsifying motorbike certificates for people all over the country. Most of his customers were from the criminal underworld. He wasn’t necessarily picky, with at least nine gangs on his client list, including the Hells Angels, King Cobras, Mongrel Mob, Head Hunters, Black Power and Killer Beez.
However, his actions came to an end in April 2021 when Wellington police spoke to two members of the Hells Angels gang after they parked their motorbikes in a bus lane.
The men were on bail and were not supposed to be riding motorbikes. To make matters more complicated for them they also had some drugs, cash and a gun on them.
On one of their phones were messages with Kalinowski that related to ordering licence qualifications for several gang associates.
The messages and Kalinowki’s name were passed on and police initiated Operation Ketch. About two months later he was arrested on 24 representative charges of dishonestly creating false competency-based training and assessment (CBTA) score sheets and certificates.
After pleading guilty he was sentenced in March last year to two years and seven months’ imprisonment.
Kalinowski, now 67, was released on parole in February, telling the Parole Board he did not see himself ever being in such a position again.
The cover story
Kalinowski’s path to corruption began in 2018 when he first started falsifying his score sheets and dishonestly issuing certificates to applicants.
About half of his customers were people who lived in the West Coast and visited him in order to sit the test, only for Kalinowski to make a pretence for them being unable or unwilling to ride, before signing them off without undertaking the required assessment.
He then would get the customers to sign their score sheet, and where it was required to record the registration of the motorcycle they used, he would re-use a registration number from a previous legitimate test without the owner’s knowledge.
The rest of his customers at this stage lived between Auckland and Ashburton. These customers would arrange their certificates over the phone without ever meeting Kalinowski.
He eventually developed a method of offending that involved asking for a photo of the customer’s licence along with their postal address and he would send his bank account details for them to pay the normal fee for an assessment. He would then fill out false details on a score sheet, fabricating a test time, date and location and forging the applicant’s signature.
He would then mark numerous mistakes to present a passable grade, but noting various areas to work on, adding comments relating to various safe motorcycling techniques such as head checks, mirror usage and lane positioning.
His fees were the same regardless of whether the test was real or fake.
After getting the money he would fill out two copies of the relevant certificate and post them to the illegitimate customers.
These customers used the certificates to obtain different classes of licences. The score sheets are produced to NZTA specifications in a booklet producing carbon copies.
Kalinowski, sent top copies to the NZTA, as per their requirements, however, due to the sophistication of his fraud his offending was not detected.
During the latter half of 2020, his offending continued to escalate as word spread and his number continued to be shared around several motorcycle gangs.
Telco data obtained by police, dating back to October 2020, showed Kalinowski receiving orders over the phone with no pretence of meeting up for an assessment. About midway through 2020, he started charging an additional $5 postage fee for the illegitimate qualifications he was posting around the country.
This assisted police in distinguishing who bought illegitimate licences.
Kalinowski’s customers would often text and directly tell him they belonged to a gang or were referred by another gang member who had passed them his number.
“As soon as a corrupt or criminal connection was established, the defendant would agree to provide a certificate with no effort being made to try and arrange a meeting,” the summary of facts Kalinowski pleaded guilty to said.
“Very business-like, the defendant would request photos of their licence and a postal address, sending his bank account details and promising them the certificate would be posted as soon as the money arrived. He would even provide courier tracking numbers once the certificates were posted and encourage sharing his details with others.”
From October 2020 Kalinowski would provide customers a “cover story” for them to use, in case they were called by quality control. They were told to say they sat the test while on holiday or visiting family in Westport, that he followed them on a red Ducati and they used radios in their helmets to communicate.
The lies
Police searched Kalinowski’s home on June 16, 2021. He was visiting Christchurch at the time, and after being called by police and advised of the suspicions he drove to Greymouth to speak to police.
However, on the way to the station, he deleted messages off his phone and hid his phone and a tablet computer at the address of a gang member who lived near the station.
In his formal interview, he denied all the offending, despite being shown extensive evidence including six months’ worth of text messages and banking records police believed were “incontrovertible”.
He insisted he had met and tested everyone he had ever issued a qualification to, without exception.
“In explanation of the bank transfers and clear postal arrangements, the defendant stated that sometimes people would be unable to pay after the assessment or would have their assessment arranged by others, and he would withhold the certificate until payment was received before posting it out to them,” according to the summary of facts.
Police showed him a number of conversations which proved no such assessment could have been arranged before he had promised to post the certificate the following morning.
“The defendant was several times offered the opportunity to work with police and help determine which of his customers were legitimate and which weren’t in order to save time and costs in the investigation and ensure only those who were deserving were allowed to keep their licences. He repeatedly declined this opportunity,” the summary said.
In total, Kalinowski falsified score sheets and dishonestly issued certificates on 285 separate occasions, of which 257 were successfully used to obtain different classes of motorcycle licences. He obtained $54,000 from the offending.
Through most of his offending Kalinowski was also employed full-time as a mining truck driver, however, in February 2021 he suffered a non-work-related back injury. He began receiving weekly ACC payments of $747 due to being medically examined and found unable to drive a truck for work.
“Police submit that obtaining money was the defendant’s primary motivation and it was greed, not any hardship, that drove him. Bank records show a highly indulgent lifestyle, fuelled by disposable income, with reckless spending on travel, dining, motorcycle gear and luxuries,” the summary said.
There were several flaws in Kalinowski’s offending, including that he reused four main registration numbers for the bulk of his offending. He also had only set up testing routes in Westport and Greymouth but was conducting the majority of his business with customers from all over the country.
The Herald on Sunday can reveal that as a result of Operation Ketch, more than 30 search warrants were carried out across the country from Waitematā to Invercargill with 27 of his customers being charged with fraud offending. Guns, drugs and a firebomb were also seized.
Among his customers to appear in court was senior King Cobras member Kent Natsuhara.
Natsuhara was sentenced in May after pleading guilty to three charges, including two of dishonestly obtaining a document and one charge in relation to failing to provide the passcode of his phone to police.
The summary of facts, released to the Herald on Sunday, said Natsuhara exchanged messages with Kalinowski on February 18, 2021.
In the messages, he asked Kalinowski to dishonestly issue him with a CBTA 6R certificate and post it to an address in Christchurch.
They exchanged messages discussing the price, and Natsuhara sent Kalinowski photographs of his driver’s licence.
Kalinowski then provided his bank account and Natsuhara arranged to transfer $204 to cover the qualification and post.
Four days later Natsuhara presented the certificate at an approved NZTA licencing agency along with a completed licence application form.
He allowed his photo to be taken and paid the application fee. He was immediately issued a temporary paper driver’s licence while a laminated card copy was arranged and posted to him several days later.
At sentencing, Judge Maria Pecotic said Natsuhara, who had 18 convictions for a variety of dishonesty offences, had written a letter apologising for his actions. He said he was trying to take a shortcut, and had since completed the proper training and obtained a restricted licence.
Natsuhara was convicted and discharged and fined $1400.
‘The whole thing snowballed’
Kalinowski appeared before the Parole Board for the first time on January 26.
The board’s report says he found prison “very unsettling”. He had no real hassles within the prison system and tended to keep to himself.
In explanation for his offending, he said he originally planned to meet up with two people who had been booked in for testing in Greymouth.
“One of those people was not up to the required standard and he was going to decline the licence. However, there were four people present at the time and Mr Kalinowski said they put pressure on him to sign off the licence which he did so as he felt fearful of the consequences if he did not.
“After that time others contacted him and he continued to sign off licences which should not have been granted and the whole thing snowballed and grew out of hand.”
He claimed to have been threatened and said gang members came to his house which was “very unsettling” for his wife.
The board said Kalinowski accepted he had behaved in an “illegal and wrong way”.
“[He] does not see himself ever again in that kind of position.”
While in prison he developed NZQA skills including the use of chainsaws and tractors. He said when he returned to Westport, where he is surrounded by dairy farms, he hoped he could use these skills to work part-time.
Kalinowski’s case manager said he had been “very willing” to engage in the Short Rehabilitation Programme (SRP) and address what led to his offending and ending up in prison.
His principal Corrections officer said he had been a good prisoner.
“In her view prison was not the right place for him,” the board said.
The board said Kalinowski was no longer considered an “undue risk”, and would release him on parole.
He was released on February 8, 2023, with conditions to run until the end of his sentence date.
Among the special conditions of his release was not to communicate or associate, directly or indirectly, with any person known to him to associate with any gang.
The Herald on Sunday recently visited his home in Westport. Kalinowski declined to comment.