Money launderer dodges conviction

A woman who was found to have remitted proceeds from drug trafficking has been discharged without conviction after being found guilty of money laundering.

Qiannan Tang, 26, appeared half an hour late to her sentencing hearing in the High Court in Auckland yesterday on one charge of money laundering. The maximum penalty for the charge is seven years in prison.

While working at financial services company MCM Group, Tang transferred $54,000 in proceeds from drug trafficking.

Justice Tracey Walker said a conviction would have been disproportionate to the offending.

Tang’s co-defendant, Mohammed Naseem Khan, pleaded guilty to charges the day before her trial started in October last year. She recklessly transferred money for a drug trafficking ring involving a number of individuals including two Polish nationals who pleaded guilty last year, and Khan.

Justice Walker said a conviction also risked having Tang, a Chinese national, deported and separated from her 4-year-old son who is a New Zealand citizen.

Tang, who is estranged from her husband, would probably lose custody of her son if she were deported to China, the judge said.

Tang’s lawyer, Graeme Newell, said a conviction would affect her future in New Zealand.

‘‘There aren’t many people who come to this court making an application [for a discharge without conviction] who are actually able to point to something as significant as a separation of an infant from their mother,’’ Newell said.

In an affidavit Tang said she accepted the jury’s verdict.

‘‘I was trying to impress my employer with my sales results,’’ Tang said in the affidavit.

Justice Walker said Tang’s offending was at the moderate end of the scale of seriousness.

‘‘The fact that you did not receive any significant financial benefits from these dealings, supports my conclusion.’’

Tang has a masters degree in management and worked at MCM after finishing her studies.

She converted $54,000 in cocaine sales into United States dollars to send to a Polish father and son, Ryszard Wilk and Ralph Alan Wilk. Khan also helped launder the money from cocaine sales.

Ralph Alan Wilk pleaded guilty to supplying a class A drug and money laundering.

The Wilks were caught carrying thousands of dollars in cash when they were stopped at Auckland International Airport in 2017.

Another man involved in the scheme, Bryan Williams, also pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering after he converted money for the Wilks from New Zealand dollars to US dollars.