NSW Crime Commission marks $500m in proceeds of crime busts
The NSW Crime Commission has now collected over half a billion dollars seized under proceeds of crime laws since 1990, including some fancy cars and gold ingots.
NSW
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With a five-bedroom beachside mansion and a couple of cars in the garage, 25-year-old computer nerd Cody Ward was doing well in life.
Then he got cocky. His first mistake was to taunt law enforcement authorities they would never catch him. The second was to buy a Maserati.
It brought them straight to his door and he was unmasked as the prolific dark web drug seller “NSWGreat”.
His home and cars joined the great bounty of ill-gotten gains seized by the powerful NSW Crime Commission, which over the past year have included a V8 Supercar, a Lamborghini linked to the Rebels bikie gang and a pile of gold ingots a money-laundering mum and dad gave to their daughter, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Slain underworld figure Mejid Hamzy, the older brother of Bassam Hamzy, self-proclaimed leader of the deadly Brothers 4 Life gang, was one of the latest to be targeted by the commission’s crack team of boffins.
When he was shot dead recently, he stood to lose his home in Condell Park and two other homes he owned, including one in Auburn where his mother lives, which the commission said were bought with the proceeds of drug dealing.
The commission has now rung up over half a billion dollars seized under proceeds of crime laws since 1990.
Acting fast was the key to its success, the commission’s director financial investigation division, Jon Spark, said.
“Speed is the key,” Mr Spark said on Monday.
“When someone is arrested or is identified as having derived the proceeds of crime, the commission moves very quickly to make an application in the NSW Supreme Court to restrain their property to prevent attempts at concealment or disposal.”
Dubbo smash repair boss Adam Carnevale lost everything he had worked for when he was arrested and charged over supplying 56.5kg of cannabis leaf. He is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to drug supply and one count of dealing with proceeds of crime worth $416,500.
He agreed to forfeit his home and business assets, as well as the V8 Supercar which was in his garage at the time.
“We got to keep my personal tools, all our household belongings, some money my wife Tracey had in her bank account left from her father,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“We worked hard for 22 years for what we had — it took me six months of stupidity to lose it.”
Over the past financial year, the NSW Crime Commission had 1500 people referred to it. They don’t have to be convicted, or even charged, to be the subject of these proceedings, Mr Spark said. The onus of proof is on them to prove they bought the assets through honest hard work. Otherwise, it’s gone.”
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