VTNZ staffer tipped off Head Hunters

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards is investigating after a Vehicle Testing New Zealand employee gave personal details about a motorist to the Head Hunters gang.

The employee ran the motorist’s licence plate through a database to obtain their address, which was passed on to the gang.

Justice Matthew Palmer mentioned the incident on Monday at the sentencing of six men over the kidnapping and manslaughter of Auckland woman Jindarat Prutsiriporn.

Justice Palmer noted that in an earlier attempt to kidnap Prutsiriporn, the group had been able to get the details of a passing motorist who reported them for behaving suspiciously outside her home. They were able to do this through a VTNZ employee who had access to the VTNZ database.

Edwards said he was ‘‘very concerned’’ about the breach. He said he would be asking VTNZ for details of the incident, and for an explanation of the security processes and procedures in place at the vehicle testing provider.

Prutsiriporn died when she fell, bound and gagged, from the boot of a moving car in Papatoetoe, South Auckland, in 2016.

Auckland man Seng Lek Liev had engaged a group within the Head Hunters, known as the ‘‘Ghost Unit,’’ to kidnap her. Liev had had a falling out with Prutsiriporn – a drug dealer of Thai descent – but reasons for the kidnapping remain unclear.

Police called the death an example of the havoc created by the Head Hunters.

VTNZ has yet to respond to requests for comment.