Co-accused known to Standen as informer

Geesche Jacobsen

Sydney Morning Herald: 28 May 2011

http://www.smh.com.au/national/coaccused-known-to-standen-as-informer-20110527-1f8fs.html

A MAN accused of conspiring with senior NSW Crime Commission investigator Mark Standen to import pseudoephedrine into Australia in 2008 was known to him at least six years earlier as a ''well-known drugs trafficker''.

Mr Standen, who is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court, was involved in the 2003 investigation of plans by the Englishman James Kinch to import ecstasy into Australia for a Dutch syndicate, the court heard.

But when Mr Kinch was arrested, after police seized more than $500,000 in cash, he became an informer for the commission, handled by Mr Standen.

He told the commission he was prepared to name the principals of the Dutch syndicate - including ''Fat Ron'' and ''Pete'' - and charges against him were eventually dropped after he forfeited $700,000.

But ''Fat'' Ron Haklander was a senior member of the Dutch syndicate involved in the alleged 2008 plan with Mr Standen and Mr Kinch to import pseudoephedrine hidden in containers of rice from Pakistan.

Another member of the syndicate, Petrus Dekker, has also been mentioned.

In 2002 the Australian Federal Police in London informed the commission that Mr Kinch, who had several aliases and a criminal record for fraud, was ''a high-profile target'' who might be setting himself up in Australia to start large-scale ecstasy imports.

In March 2003, authorities arrested him and seized money and about 400,000 ecstasy tablets.

Yesterday, the director of the Crime Commission, John Giorgiutti, told the Supreme Court that Mr Standen, who had worked at the commission since 1997, was subject to strict rules about his dealings with informers.

Dealing with informers was a high-risk activity, Mr Giorgiutti said. Risks included the possibility that the informers might try to recruit someone inside the commission to work for them.

The rules about contact with informers were tightened in 2007, Mr Giorgiutti said.

The court has previously heard that Mr Standen developed a good personal relationship with informers and was not very good at doing ''paperwork''.

The trial continues.