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A former Ōrewa café owner has been sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison for his role in laundering millions of dollars in proceeds from Comancheros motorcycle gang drug offending.
The case was part of a wider police investigation, named Operation Scuba, targeting the Comancheros.
Accountant Khieng Chiv formerly owned and operated two cafés in Ōrewa – Coast Bites and Brews and Oliver’s Café. Both businesses were liquidated by the Inland Revenue Department in January, and in April the premises were repossessed by the landlord for failure to pay outstanding rent and related expenses.
Chiv was sentenced in the Auckland District Court on July 30 after a jury found him guilty on 26 charges, including participating in an organised criminal group, 20 charges of money laundering, false accounting, obtaining by deception and using an altered document.
Police have declined to comment on the case until further matters are resolved in the wider investigation.
Destination Ōrewa Business manager Hellen Wilkins says the gang-linked criminal activity taking place over an extended period, effectively hidden in plain sight, combined with the subsequent flurry of reactive social media commentary, had the potential to damage Ōrewa’s reputation as a boutique beachside destination.”
“We are pleased this phase has now moved on, with those responsible being held to account through the appropriate judicial processes and it is important to allow those processes to take their course and we don’t get caught up in social media activity and speculation,” she says.
The association is now focusing on supporting the new lessee of the premises as they establish their businesses, and helping to separate the new businesses from the reputational damage created by the former leaseholder, she says.
“What happened at these premises does not define Ōrewa or the hundreds of businesses that work hard to make our town a great place to live, visit and do business.
We understand incidents such as this can concern the community, but our focus now is on moving forward, supporting local businesses and letting Ōrewa get back to being itself.”
During sentencing, Judge D A Bell said the money laundering involved about $7.77 million that Chiv knew was the proceeds of Comancheros drug dealing. He was also involved in fraudulently obtaining $2.8 million in lending used to purchase properties connected with the group.
The court found that for about three years he acted as an accountant and professional facilitator for the Comancheros, using his accounting experience, control of company accounts and access to lending channels to help move criminal proceeds into property and businesses.
Judge Bell described Chiv as the “architect” of the laundering arrangements, saying he identified businesses and properties for purchase, established corporate structures and prepared false documents.
During his trial, Chiv told the jury that about $143,000 transferred to a Cambodian bank was for the purchase of coffee beans for the cafés. However, the court found that Chiv knew he was dealing with proceeds from drug offending.
In another part of his evidence, Chiv said international movement of money through different accounts related to buying coffee beans. The judge said evidence including communications with gang members, large cash transactions and international transfers demonstrated his knowledge of the offending.
The court found Chiv acted for financial gain, receiving accounting fees, investment interests and commissions from transactions he facilitated.
Throughout the trial and sentencing, Chiv maintained that he had no idea what was going on until he was arrested.
When questioned in court about the text message reference to dirty or clean money, he responded “that the money had been left at construction sites and hence it had become dirty”.
Judge Bell, however, described it as one of the most serious money laundering cases in New Zealand, saying professional facilitators gave organised criminal groups access to financial systems, corporate structures and an appearance of legitimacy.
She said that Chiv’s offending was sophisticated and “made a significant contribution to the overall success of the Comancheros’ criminal enterprise”.
