Shock twist in Gregor Haas drug trafficking case as links to notorious conman revealed

The father of Payne Haas has mystery links to a notorious conman who was jailed for offences including stealing identities from the graves of babies.

Gregor Haas is arrested in the Philippines for alleged drug trafficking.

The father of Broncos star Payne Haas has mystery business links to a notorious NSW conman who was jailed for offences including stealing identities from the graves of babies.

Gregor Haas, 46, was arrested in the Philippines last week for alleged drug trafficking in Indonesia where he could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Gregor Haas was arrested last week. Picture: 9 News

He was nabbed by Filipino immigration officials in Cebu City at the request of Indonesian authorities, who allege he was part of a Mexican drug cartel linked to the discovery of 5kg of crystal meth found hidden in ceramic tiles in Indonesia last December.

He is being held at an immigration detention centre pending a planned extradition hearing and could face the death penalty if deported to Indonesia and found guilty.

Speaking at the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government opposed the death penalty and was providing Gregor Haas with consular support.

It can be revealed that Gregor Haas has companies including one associated with disgraced former northern NSW solicitor and property developer Paul MacMahon, also known as Paul McMahon and Paul Mann.

Gregor Haas in custody. Picture: 9 News

MacMahon went bankrupt owing $45m in the late 1990s and was later jailed for tax fraud and identity theft, including stealing identities from the graves of children and adults.

Gregor Haas is director and secretary of a company called Eco Botanical Exports Pty Ltd, of which Paul MacMahon was also a director up until February this year.

Another MacMahon company, Tweed Heads-based Corus Pty Ltd, is listed as being a near joint shareholder with Haas of Eco Botanical Exports.

MacMahon, who was bankrupted in 1999, pleaded guilty in 2009 to 42 charges of identity fraud and 39 counts of tax fraud after opening a string of bank accounts and obtaining Australian passports in the names of 29 people including babies who had died around the date of his birth. The names were taken from graves and obituaries, a court heard.

In 2020, he successfully changed his name to Paul Rawlings Mann after a legal appeal against the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriage rejected his new identity application because of his criminal past.

MacMahon told an appeals tribunal that he was sick of the bad publicity about him in newspapers and internet blogs as his convictions had become “a source of embarrassment and discrimination”.

He could not be contacted for comment on Monday, and there is no suggestion he is linked to Gregor Haas’s alleged drug crimes. Nor is there any suggestion that Gregor Haas was involved with MacMahon’s fraud offending.

Payne Haas pictured with his father Gregor Haas. Picture: NRL Photos/Gregg Porteous

The revelations come as the same lawyer representing Gregor Haas’s wife in a triple manslaughter case has also been called in to assist him in his looming extradition battle in the Philippines.

Sydney-based lawyer Abdul Reslan, who has been acting for Haas family matriarch Uiatu “Joan” Taufua after she was charged over a horror Gold Coast car crash that left three family members dead, confirmed on Monday he was also assisting Gregor following his arrest.

“All hands on deck are currently in play here,” Mr Reslan, of Kings Law Group, told The Courier-Mail.

“We are assisting Gregor. We are working with the (Australian) consulate (in Manila) to ensure he gets the right attention and service.”

A picture from Indonesian authorities showing Gregor Johann Haas, arrested in the Philippines.

Mr Reslan said it was still “early days” in the case and no date had been set for an extradition hearing.

King’s Law has also been representing Ms Taufua who has been behind bars on remand since being charged over a December 2022 crash near her Bonogin home in the Gold Coast Hinterland which wiped out almost an entire family.

Taufua - the mother of Payne Haas and rising Gold Coast Titans player Klese Haas - is accused of fleeing from a police patrol car before ploughing into an oncoming vehicle minutes later carrying Steffi Zimmer, her mother Susan Zimmer and her mother’s former partner Chris Fawcett.

All three died at the scene while Taufua, the crash’s only survivor, was charged with manslaughter, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, evade police, drink-driving and unlicensed driving.

There is no suggestion that Payne or Klese Haas have any involvement in their parents’ alleged crimes.

Uiatu "Joan" Taufua, mother of Payne Haas. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled

In Taufau’s latest court appearance last week, magistrate Kerry Magee slammed continuing delays in the case.

“No, no, no, no,” she told the court.

“The court has been waiting for the completion of a psychiatric assessment since last October.

“This has been going on far too long.

“People are presumed to have capacity (mental sanity) unless proven otherwise.”

She ordered the assessment to be completed by June 13, with prosecutors given until June 27 to respond.

The case will return to court on July 11.

Magistrate Magee said the court would hear submissions on that date on why the case should not proceed to a committal hearing with cross-examination of witnesses.

In Indonesia, Gregor Haas reportedly lives on Gili Trawangan - a picturesque island in North Lombok known for diving and nightlife.

Philippine Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco told Associated Press (AP) Gregor Haas was arrested in Bogo city in Cebu after Interpol issued a “red notice”.

Mr Tansingco said Gregor was a “high-profile fugitive” wanted over allegedly being a member of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico.

The Bureau of Immigration in Manila said in a statement to AP that Gregor had allegedly been implicated in an attempt to smuggle drugs into the country in floor ceramics.

“The drugs were seized by Indonesian authorities who later discovered via testimonies elicited from arrested drug couriers that the packages were sent by Gregor from Guadalajara, Mexico,” it said of police allegations.

According to Associated Press, Indonesian authorities wanted Gregor Haas to be extradited as soon as possible.