$1 Million Fine

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote pjc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 4:56pm
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No pleasing some is there. We have moaned for years when comms/poachers etc have recieved fines of 3k 10k etc
Now one has gone through the courts which is quite substantial $1 million loss of gear and we are still not satisfied??
Sure may not fit the crime but better than what has been handed out,who knows that maybe the new starting point for the next poacher??
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Tagit Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 5:09pm
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The Point is PJ is that the fine may not be that significant to the perpetrators when compared to what they earned from their illegal activities. It might be a big number, but if they make more illegally than the cost of the fine for getting caught there isn't much deterrent value. 
If a rec guy loses his boat and gets fined for taking to many Snapper the pain is a lot worse than the potential gain. Should be the same for the comms. At say $5/kg the 250tonnes of excess Bluenose they took was worth as much as the fines and that is ignoring what they didn't get caught for. In other words fishing theft pays even with that $1m fine. No strong incentive to stay legal if you figure you will still be in profit even if caught and fined. 
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote pjc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 5:17pm
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Yes "tagit" crime pays in NZ,no matter fishing/drugs etc the fine never exceeds profits,but it is a start.
You could now raise the question why a murderer can have 3 seperate trials be found guilty on 3 different occasions and now locked up for life at what expense to the tax payer, keep + trials when you could have 1 trial found guilty,taken out back shot for a few thousand??
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Tagit Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 5:28pm
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That is a much bigger question PJ. Our 'humanitarian' society throws a lot of money at the 'bad guys' in the often vain hope of making a better society. In reality it is probably making it worse.
On the other hand, there would be some innocent people taken out and shot seeing as how our law system is prone to messing up from time to time.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 2019 at 5:52pm
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The fine of near a $M 20 yrs ago (prob $2+M in todays terms) clearly did not deter this guy (who already had in excess of $10m in ready seizable assets).So the only conclusion you could come to was that the illegal activity was paying better than the fines - certainly no deterrent.
Who knows what $Ms he has gotten away with over the past 20 yrs. But MPI did drop about 100 other charges - in exchange for guilty pleas on the ones they convicted on.
Confiscating part of his quota 20 yrs ago  may have had more of an effect?
What the court works on is what is in front of them - they don't know the real scale of the offending and $s involved. This guy was recently pictured in the local paper taking a test drive of the latest top of line R Royce car - flown out from England for a select few to try before buy. Maybe he can only afford to buy one now, instead of one for the missus too?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Guyfishnz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Apr 2019 at 8:56pm
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I've been following this company for awhile now. The prolonged history of overfishing lends them to be called rapists of the sea. Convicted. The seared conscience of these criminals has done so much damage to fish stocks of each species they targeted. Their family name back to their fathers before them is disgraced. Lighten the local quota to the betterment of the local fisheries. Big shout out to all the people who work on this case. Great work well done
G.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Apr 2019 at 7:02am
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2019 at 12:41pm
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OK - here we go again.
The guy has just been pinged for buying 1000 paua from undercover MPI agent.
Jail time is the answer now - surely.
Alan
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2019 at 4:13pm
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https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/117446962/fisheries-company-director-handed-over-bundles-of-cash-for-black-market-paua

The guy is a Director of the company he sold to Iwi after conviction of the earlier offences ($1M fine).
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Sanchez Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2019 at 8:18pm
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Jail time and a lifetime ban from the industry. All vessels even remotely connected with him get cameras placed on board immediately. And get audited once a month. Insane unstoppable greed.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2019 at 9:52pm
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Even that doesn't really work. His son manages the new Iwi company.
Crime really does pay. The guy has lots of flash cash.
Alan
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Marligator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2019 at 9:53pm
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This is great, but I have one fundamental question where the hell did MPI get 457kg of paua from to undertake this operation? and why did it need to take this much to gather enough evidence?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2019 at 6:55am
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Maybe confiscated paua that would not survive being returned? Maybe processed paua that had been seized earlier from black market trading?
Alan
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Snappa Geoff Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2019 at 8:04am
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Originally posted by Alan L Alan L wrote:

Even that doesn't really work. His son manages the new Iwi company.
Crime really does pay. The guy has lots of flash cash.
Alan
Agree Alan! And there is also a new get out of Jail Card Iwi can use. Are you aware any Iwi member caught doing crime, if he can convince the Judge he is a P addict doing crime to support a habit they can get Rehab instead of Jail. And you Guessed it the the Government is pouring millions into this because the Jails are overloaded with them. Fact.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Marligator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2019 at 8:16am
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Alan, I hope that is the case, or maybe that is what happened to all the Kaikoura Paua after the earthquake, MPI created a stockpile for this purpose (LOL).
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Alan L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2019 at 9:13am
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Yes I remember the Kaikoura one. They forbade any take and they were just left there clinging to the rocks. My guess is they come across enough market ready black market paua they would have access to stocks of minced paua after they had been thru the court process. What better way to use the evidence after one conviction, than to secure a second?
But money/fines don't stop the likes of D'Esposito. He was convicted for a similar amount a decade ago. What was he doing for the intervening decade before the last big fine? And while he was in the court process for the last fine, he was still dealing in illegal paua. Lock the p...k up. He sold the business to Iwi for over $20M I think. What value is a fine? Paid for from ill gotten money.
He got off jail time last time by pleading guilty to a heap of charges (50-100 I think), in exchange for no jail time, and dropping of another 100 charges.  I guess there is only so much a Judge can sentence him for over 500Kg of Paua, but he should get the maximum, and hopefully it includes incarceration. I don't care if the jails are full. Double bunk him with a serial sex offender.
Alan
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote pjc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2019 at 12:33pm
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Slight problem there Alan L,he looks the type that would enjoy double bunkingLOL
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