45 replies to this topic

[FastEHHolden]

From The Courier mail-

A COLLECTION of cars and motorbikes so powerful even their owner says they're dangerous is about to be put up for public sale by the State Government.
None is registered and some are up to 10 times more powerful than ordinary streets cars. All run on pure alcohol fuel.
The machines are being held as part of a $10 million proceeds of crime civil case � but they will be released to the general public because the Queensland Government doesn't have a place to keep them.
They are owned by former drag racing champion Brett Stevens and were seized last February when Stevens, 45, was arrested as part of Operation Golf Brazen.
The year-long Queensland police, Crime and Misconduct Commission and Australian Crime Commission campaign targeted drug crime and led to 77 arrests and 220 charges.
Stevens was charged with drug manufacturing and trafficking offences and a committal hearing in Brisbane Magistrates Court is set for Tuesday.
The cars look like production models � five are described as Ford Falcons � but produce up to 3000 horsepower.
The Public Trustee will now sell them and hold the money until the state's civil case against Stevens is resolved.
The body argued in court documents last year that there was no facility in southeast Queensland to properly store the vehicles and there was a risk that they would deteriorate in value.
Stevens himself did not oppose an application for their sale although he warned in an affidavit that it would be dangerous to sell them without explaining to a buyer how to operate them.
Last month Justice Byrne ordered the Public Trustee to sell the five cars, a "Burnout Ute", four bikes and one body shell, first removing all sponsor logos and other advertising.
Drag racing veteran Victor Bray said Stevens's cars were "top class" and the state should not have difficulty finding buyers.
"These cars are all still state of the art," he said.
Stevens has been advertising the cars for sale for several months on his website, at $250,000 each. Bray said this was "at the top of the market", noting that a brand new drag car could be bought in the US for about $215,000.
A spokesman for the Public Trustee said that it could not comment as the matter was before the courts. It usually sells the goods it seizes at auction.
The state has also frozen other assets owned by Stevens including several properties, shares in his racing, transport and employment companies and a fleet of trucks, utes and cars.
Under Queensland's tough proceeds of crime laws, the state can restrain property if there is reasonable suspicion of serious crime-related activity, even if there is no conviction. The onus is on the owner to show how the money used to buy it was obtained.
To back its civil claim, the state has alleged in the Supreme Court, based on wiretap and surveillance evidence and informants' testimony, that Stevens was involved in manufacturing and supplying drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and methylamphetamine.
It alleges he had access to at least one pill press between September 2007 and October 2008 and told a co-conspirator "that he could sell 20,000 pills per week and was getting between $8 and $9 per pill".
Stevens did not respond to calls seeking comment


lifted from Aussie V8 forums

http://www.aussiev8....-race-cars.html

[FastEHHolden]

whether he is guilty or not...you just cant sell ppls stuff because you dont have room to store it...and i'm pretty sure we've got this whole innocent until proven guitly thing going...what happens when he gets off on some technicality?....he is entitled to get his stuff back.

[Collo]

^ true...But it's still not right if he gets off. If found guilty then by all means, but if not then what?

[GML-31]

aren't we lucky to have Captain Bligh as premier?

[mitchg]

pretty sure he was proven guilty, and i think if all these cars and bikes have been funded by drug money, why should he be entitled to get them back?

[mr5000]

im with mitch i no stevens was originally a plumber wich you can make a good buck out of now look at him thrown it all away im all for screwing the government over but not that way

[enderwigginau]

Under the law, they can sell them off if they cannot provide adequate secure storage, but as has been said, Brett was already trying to get rid of it all, and has given the govt the go ahead. �It's not like they end up with that many major dollar vehicles in one place. �I found it interesting that he shut up shop and said he was getting out or racing, then a week later the cops turn up.....

If he is found guilty, then a very large number of truck drivers are going to have issues. �And there will be a large number of late-model semi's going cheap. �Might be an opportunity for someone to pick up a transport company with some VERY large long-term contracts.

Grant..

[ToRunYa]

Under Queensland's tough proceeds of crime laws, the state can restrain property if there is reasonable suspicion of serious crime-related activity, even if there is no conviction. The onus is on the owner to show how the money used to buy it was obtained.

if he cant prove where the money came from to purchase, they can sell them.

[ToRunYa]

^ AHAR! so true!

[Ruts]

If the government are going to have a clearance sale then a deal has already been done somewhere. I would not mind betting that when his committal hearing takes place that there is a guilty plea coming. But to what charges I don't know.

[Ice]

They found a pill press FFS and people still think he is not guilty of any wrong doing wake up and smell the coffee imho he will be going to the big house for a while anyway were all drug dealers should be.G

[enderwigginau]

and nothing to say he can't buy it all back either

Yes, it's called contempt of court.


Grant..

[Ruts]

Here Here!!. Tie their hands and feet together and then throw them in a pool of battery acid. SCUM OF THE EARTH.

[FastEHHolden]

Its not that I don't think he is guilty...but there is a process to follow...its either that or we can just dispence with the courts and give the police bigger guns.

I just think its a little backwards that he has to prove those cars etc were bought with legitimate funds...its usually the other way around.

i too want to find out more about the transport company..my uncle is after a new truck

[FastEHHolden]

Not according to facebook???

Seems that the trucks are gone?..back in october they went thru Pickles.

http://www.brettstev...BSR_sale_ok.pdf

anyone with some coin?

Edited by FastEHHolden, 23 January 2010 - 09:42 PM.