Long-running tobacco dispute headed back to court
Motueka tobacco grower Laurie Jury’s seven-year case with NZ Customs is off to the Court of Appeal.
A December High Court decision gave Jury the right to have the 4.8 tonne of tobacco seized by Customs officers in a 2010 raid on his Motueka Valley farm returned to him.
Customs appealed the decision last month.
Its case against Jury centred on a sale of his tobacco to Wellsford’s Ross Ferguson, who was found to have then illegally manufactured it.
Following the sale Customs officers and the Armed Offenders’ Squad raided Jury’s property and found the tonnes of unprocessed tobacco leaf.
Customs said it would have generated just under $2 million in revenue if it had been manufactured.
Customs approved the tobacco be forfeit to the Crown in September 2010.
In the 2011 North Shore District Court case, Customs argued it was reasonable to infer Jury was aware Ferguson intended to manufacture the purchased tobacco and Jury was therefore a party to illegal activity.
The court dismissed five of the six charges against Jury, but convicted him of being party to illegal tobacco manufacture and fined him $6000.
Jury appealed the conviction and it was quashed by the High Court in 2013 on the basis the Crown had not established beyond doubt Jury had intended the tobacco be used illegally.
The next year Jury appealed the decision by NZ Customs not to return his tobacco. The Customs Appeal Authority turned down his appeal and Jury again turned to the High Court, a move which saw last year’s decision saying he could have it back.
In its submissions to the High Court, Customs said Jury had to prove there was no legal basis for the seizure of the tobacco and produce evidence he did not intend, or suspect, the tobacco would be illegally manufactured, it said.
But Jury argued there was no evidence of his intention to use the leaf illegally and large leaps of logic were required to accept that as grounds for forfeiture.
In his December decision Justice Denis Clifford found the Customs Appeal Authority’s opinion the tobacco would be used in breach of the Customs and Excise Act was not grounds for forfeit. Intent had to be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
A Customs spokesperson said on Thursday its grounds for last month’s appeal related to the High Court’s conclusion as to who bore the burden of proof, the nature of that proof and whether Customs should prove Jury’s intent.
Jury’s barrister, Peter McRae, said if Jury had tobacco stored in his shed how could it be said its intended use was in tobacco products.
The date for the appeal had yet to be set, but given it was the case’s second appeal the issues were ‘‘fairly well defined’’, McRae said.
The court saga was Jury’s second.
In 2007 Jury was re-united with 3.8 tonnes of tobacco leaf seized by Customs in 2005 after a judge ordered the charges of selling, disposing and possessing illegal tobacco be dropped.