Aiyaz Mohammed Musa UMARJI 19/09/2024

Parole Hearing

Under section 21(1) of the Parole Act 2002

Aiyaz Mohammed Musa UMARJI

Hearing: 19 September 2024

at Tongariro Prison

Members of the Board:

Ms M Coleman – Panel Convenor

Mr L Tawera

Mr A Hackney

Counsel:  Mr David Jones

In Attendance: 

[withheld] - Case Manager

[withheld] – Observing Case Manager

Support Persons: [withheld]

DECISION OF THE BOARD

  1. Aiyaz Mohammed Musa Umarji, who is 48, appeared before the Board today for the first consideration of parole on a three-year six-month sentence for the importation of pseudoephedrine.
  2. Mr Umarji becomes eligible for parole on 9 October 2024.  His statutory release date is 8 February 2027.
  3. Mr Umarji was a Fiji national who was living in Fiji at the time of the offending.  He was the managing director of several pharmacies which imported and exported pharmaceuticals into Fiji.  He was also the sole shareholder of a company which was set up for the purpose of transferring money to syndicate members.  Mr Umarji and a co-offender were responsible for importing Actifed pills into New Zealand.  The shipment was to transit New Zealand at which point these pills were removed from the shipment and other medications substituted.
  4. Mr Umarji was represented at today’s hearing by Mr Jones who acted for him in the criminal trial.  [withheld].
  5. Mr Jones set out some of the background context to the offending that is relevant to Mr Umarji’s risk.  [withheld].
  6. The Board asked Mr Umarji why he had offended in this way and he frankly acknowledged that it was greed.  Mr Umarji said he would be paid $10 per packet of the Actifed pills that were removed from the shipment by the person that he used for freight forwarding.  [withheld].
  7. Mr Umarji has some insight into the poor decisions that he made at this time.  Greed was a motivating factor but he also acknowledged, as did one of his supporters, that he was prone to making quick decisions without properly thinking things through.
  8. Mr Umarji was seeking to be released into the custody of Immigration New Zealand or Police for the purposes of deportation.  A key concern of the Board was whether, on return to Fiji, that Mr Umarji might resume his business of exporting drugs back into New Zealand.  There was a reasonably lengthy discussion on this point at the hearing and eventually the Board was persuaded that was very unlikely.  There are a number of reasons that led to that conclusion.
  9. The first of these was Mr Umarji taking responsibility for this offending, including coming to New Zealand voluntarily.  We also took into account that both the police and courts had sufficient faith in him to enable him to travel back to Fiji to put his affairs in order before returning for sentencing.
  10. We also acknowledge that he has a strong support network who undertook today to ensure that he has no role in that part of the family’s business that is involved with the importation and exportation of pharmaceuticals.  [withheld].  The remaining factor was we accept that Mr Umarji was dealing only with his co-offender rather than dealing with a criminal syndicate in New Zealand and there is no evidence that he had any ties with any of the others involved in the drug trade in New Zealand.  For those reasons the Board is satisfied that his risk would not be undue if he were deported back to Fiji.
  11. Mr Umarji will be released [withheld – in November 2024].  [withheld].  The release date can be brought forward if Immigration New Zealand or Police can arrange for his deportation earlier.  Mr Umarji will not, of course, be able to be released until he reaches his parole eligibility date of 9 October 2024.
  12. As Mr Umarji will be leaving New Zealand there is a need to suspend the standard conditions of parole.  He will be subject to two special conditions only, which will remain in place till the end of his sentence.  Those are as follows:

(1) To be released into the custody of the New Zealand Immigration authorities, or to the New Zealand Police, for deportation from New Zealand.

(2) Not to return to New Zealand.

Ms M Coleman

Panel Convenor