Funds totalling $1.8 million held frozen in BNZ bank accounts were seized as proceeds of crime following a High Court ruling the bank accounts were used for money laundering by Shahidrawadey Bin Shahidan, part of an investment fraud operating out of Malaysia.
Police inquiries were triggered by Bank of New Zealand after it blocked further activity by Shahidan on two bank accounts in May 2016 after he failed to respond adequately to Bank ‘please explain’ requests. Suspicious of the flow of funds into these accounts, BNZ asked Shahidan for the source of deposits. He claimed to own a business providing software services but was unwilling to provide any documentatary support. In the High Court, Justice Katz described as simply not credible Shahidan’s claim to have generated more than two million dollars selling software services over a seven month period while having no records to corroborate his claim.
Shahidan’s day job ostensibly was chief operating officer for a business called VenusFX. Its website advertised investment advice on foreign investments and claimed to have over 2,000 clients. Its Facebook page profiled large profits received by Venus investors. VenusFX falsely claimed to have registration within New Zealand as an authorised broker, displaying as evidence on its website the certificate of incorporation issued as a matter of course to all companies registered in New Zealand. It also falsely claimed to be a member of the Financial Services Complaints dispute resolution scheme.
Ordering the frozen $1.8 million be forfeit to government, Justice Powell described VenusFX as a fraudulent investment scheme based in Malaysia with evidence indicating BNZ accounts were set up to launder profits from the fraud.
Commissioner of Police v. Shahidan – High Court (8.06.21 & 2.11.22)
22.180