Andrew Rule: Hobby pilot turned St Kevin’s teacher in fight of life on major drug charges
That Peter Forni is accused of plotting to import half a tonne of Peruvian marching powder will have shocked friends, students he taught at St Kevin’s College and the homebuyers he lent money to.
Andrew Rule
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No matter what police say about the cheerful man who calls himself “Peter” Forni, he stays busy.
At nearly 65, an age when most workers are easing into retirement, the civilian pilot turned teacher and mortgage broker is still working hard to support a five-year-old daughter who could be mistaken for his granddaughter.
The little girl is the result of a late-in-life decision to try IVF. But whether the proud father will see her start primary school, let alone graduate from high school, is up to a jury.
The fact is that daddy, named in court as Pierino Forni, has been committed for trial for allegedly plotting to import 540kg of cocaine worth $80m via Papua New Guinea.
If Forni goes down on half a tonne of Peruvian marching powder, he could spend his autumn years in prison. Although it is possible, if convicted, he finds a friendly judge up north like one who went rather gently on some veteran drug traffickers in a similar case recently, a story for another time.
Meanwhile, on bail in Melbourne, the ever-busy Forni keeps himself occupied doing the best he can no matter how distracting it must be to be accused of plotting to fly in a light plane full of cocaine smuggled from Peru to Papua New Guinea by boat.
Sadly for the alleged plotters, the overloaded plane crashed after attempting take off from a makeshift airstrip on July 26, 2020.
Peter Forni was not flying the twin-engined Cessna at the time — that pilot was convicted Australian bird smuggler David John Cutmore, who walked from the crumpled aircraft in scrub near Port Moresby and gave himself up days later and is doing 18 years jail.
But Federal Police believe Forni’s aviation knowledge helped the alleged conspirators set up a “black flight” at low altitudes, literally under the radar, from Mareeba in North Queensland to an airstrip near the coastal village of Lea Lea.
The feds arrested him and alleged Mafia figure Salvatore Formica on the day of the crash, plus several others, including Victorian Aiden Anis Khodher, 33, and NSW man George Machem, 38.
Investigators claim that Forni’s co-accused and others had conspired successfully to land an earlier load of 300kg of cocaine in August 2018, which had led the feds to monitor the group for 18 months before the 2020 debacle.
These claims must have surprised several Victorian schools where Forni had taught engineering subjects while juggling other interests as a mortgage lender and financial adviser who flew his own plane at Point Cook Flying Club, where he was a committee member.
Pierino Forni is clearly a man of many parts.
Despite associating with alleged drug traffickers like Salvatore Formica, nephew of named Mafia boss Giovanni Arico, Forni has been an anti-drug advocate.
As well as being a mortgage broker, licensed for years as an Australian Financial Services Authorised Representative, Forni is accused of being a bent money launderer.
He has run a Brunswick tile business that provided jobs for needy and homeless youths.
And he was a popular teacher at several schools — but had to quit at least one post after parents’ complaints.
That happened at St Kevin’s College in Toorak in 2020 after police arrested him on July 26 (with Formica and others) over the cocaine crash earlier that day.
A week later, St Kevin’s ended Forni’s employment, supposedly not because of his arrest, but because acting principal John Crowley had received complaints from a parent. The school informed parents of this on August 13, little more than two weeks after his arrest.
“He told my son he was contracted to the military and said he’d bring in a bullet to make us behave,” one student’s father told the Herald Sun.
“He told students he had Sicilian heritage and a mafia background and would bring in the shell of an AK-47.”
Forni had also taught at St Joseph’s College in Geelong in 2017, where he was popular with boys he encouraged to call him “Peter.” He even inspired one of his students to study aviation and take up flying.
But Forni’s connections extend beyond the Catholic school network.
Herald Sun reporter Susie O’Brien broke a story in 2020 revealing that in between regular overseas trips, Forni had been a relief teacher at Roxburgh College, Hume Central Secondary College, Diamond Valley College, the former Brimbank College, Lalor North Secondary College and Reservoir High School.
At Hume Central Secondary College he is reported to have told students he was sleeping in his car.
Former students said he was popular but other people recall he left some schools abruptly.
Police started monitoring the alleged drug syndicate by intercepting phone calls and using surveillance devices between the alleged 2018 importation and the 2020 debacle.
For a humble jack-of-all trades and ”cleanskin”, Forni was remarkably well-represented in his committal hearing last year and in bail applications, where his barrister was an expensive “silk”, Ian Hill QC.
When seeking bail for his client, Hill QC said police may “have a belief” his client imported drugs and laundered money, but they “had no proof of that belief.” While it seemed his client had arranged flights there was no evidence Forni knew those flights were to help import wholesale cocaine.
But prosecutors claimed that the same underemployed relief teacher deposited large sums allegedly gained from the drug trade into legitimate companies, including the Australian Cricket Bat Company.
Forni is still named as a mortgage lender and principal of One Stop Finance in Bell St, Pascoe Vale South. Someone at that office who answered the phone this week said Forni wasn’t there just then — but was available to help prospective clients. He hasn’t returned the call.
Among those who gave character evidence for Forni in court was an Anglican minister who has known him for 30 years.
The Rev. David Peake OAM said he was shocked to hear the charges against Forni but defended him.
“We’ve connected over a lifetime. He’s arranged home loans for my friends. I baptised his child. I’ve met Sarah, his partner,
and his daughter,” he said.
Rev. Peake said Forni was setting up an office in the back of the bargain shop he runs to support homeless and unemployed people in Thornbury.
“I work with kids with drugs and court-related issues. Peter always expressed dismay for people who’d use and abuse drugs. He doesn’t drink, only soda water. I am not sure how Peter got himself involved in such an episode”.
At one point Forni was denied bail but since then has been let live a normal family life pending trial in Brisbane.
When the Australian Electoral Commission recruited hundreds of vote counters and supervisors in early October to handle millions of “Voice” referendum votes, a lawyer signing on for extra work was surprised they had to agree to a police check — and even more surprised to find one of their supervisors was Peter Forni.
They didn’t ask their chirpy supervisor if he was wearing baggy trousers to hide an ankle bracelet. But they noticed that during a tea break at the Port Melbourne tally room, Forni mentioned that “ASIO and the Federal Police know where I am 24/7.”
He also boasted about spending a lot of time in Uruguay and Mexico. Something which might be of interest to Queensland prosecutors.
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