Ronnie and Penelope de Wys face the loss of their Kihi Road property near Kawhia Harbour after the High Court found their purchase was funded in part from commercial cultivation of cannabis on a Putaruru farm they previously managed. Police allege up to $729,500 in cash came from cannabis dealing. The two have never been charged with dealing. Police interest was piqued by bank reports the de Wys banked large sums of cash in small denomination notes.
Legal expenses are mounting. They have been to the High Court, Court of Appeal and back to the High Court protesting their innocence and unsuccessfully challenging police witnesses. An agricultural contractor gave evidence of seeing cannabis planted in the middle of Putaruru maize crops. Police forensic evidence identified traces of cannabis in bins. Remnants of dried cannabis were found in the roof cavity of the manager’s cottage previously occupied by the de Wys in Putaruru.
The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act does not require police to prove cash came from illegal activity; it is for the recipients to prove otherwise. At the second High Court hearing, Justice Whata said the de Wys explanations for large holdings of cash lacked credibility. Asked to explain the source, they said it came from legitimate farm-related cash sales plus savings they had hoarded, stored in a tin under the house, rather than banked. Farm cash sales were listed in a notebook: the ‘red book’. A total of $398,400 was recorded as cash receipts from sale of firewood, machinery, livestock, scrap metal and dumping fees paid by those dumping waste in gullies on the property. These transactions were not supported by documentation. The red book was written up, supposedly from memory, years after the transactions. Challenged about some of the major transactions, such as a sale of scrap metal at $60,000, Mr de Wys could only remember the purchaser being called Santa Claus. Justice Whata accepted it was likely that some legitimate cash savings were held unbanked on the property, but not the full $230,000 claimed by the de Wys.
Justice Whata ordered a valuation of the Kihi Road property pending potential confiscation. The monetary value of any confiscation order is yet to be decided. The High Court was told Inland Revenue is assessing the de Wys for tax due on cannabis dealing. The value of any confiscation order will reduce assessable revenue.
Commissioner of Police v. de Wys – High Court (6.04.18)
18.072