GOFF ORDERS DRUG SENTENCES PROBE

Justice Minister Phil Goff has called for an investigation into
sentences imposed on drug smugglers.

The move follows the discharge without conviction of a billionaire
facing drug importing charges, revealed in the Herald last week.

Mr Goff fears the case will damage public confidence in the justice
system.

The billionaire visitor had his name suppressed. The Herald went to
court yesterday in a bid to name the man.

"I have asked the Ministry of Justice to look at the whole question of
consistency of sentencing in regards to the importation of drugs," Mr
Goff said. "There is a public perception that there has been
inconsistency and that inconsistency might be affected by the status
of the individual facing the charge."

Judge David Harvey discharged the businessman, in New Zealand for the
America's Cup regatta, when he appeared in the Otahuhu District Court
on Friday.

The man is understood to have agreed to make a donation to Auckland
drug rehabilitation centre Odyssey House.

Lawyers for the Herald were in the Otahuhu court yesterday to start a
bid to overturn the suppression order.

The move was opposed by the man's lawyer, who questioned the court's
jurisdiction and the Herald's right to make the application.

Judge Stan Thorburn asked for more detail, and the Herald will today
seek to have the matter transferred to the High Court.

Police have not yet moved to appeal against the suppression order,
which has not stopped publication of the man's name in overseas
newspapers and on the Internet.

This put local bookstores on alert yesterday to screen American and
British newspapers for mention of the name.

The general manager of Borders, Gary Lombardo, said last night that
the situation was unprecedented but he might have to withdraw such
newspapers from the central Auckland store.

Mr Goff said the fact that a local suppression order had been breached
overseas was no reason to do away with them.

"We don't resolve the problem of having overseas operators breaking
the suppression order by allowing a general breach here."

While people might believe a suppression order was misplaced in the
billionaire's case, they would not say the same in a rape case, where
naming the offender could identify the victim, he said.

If overseas breaches of New Zealand suppression orders became
commonplace then it would be necessary to work with international
agencies to combat it.

Ministry figures show suppression orders were granted in 24 drug cases
in 1998 in which there was a conviction, or 0.3 per cent of such cases.

The highest proportion of 1998 orders - 19 per cent - was granted in
sexual offence cases.