![\"Russell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/russell-harrison-presented-lotto-for-11-years-on-tvnz-D7O7WAOXFVCJXDOUGUIOFLUQM4.png\")
<\/p>\n
Russell Harrison presented Lotto for 11 years on TVNZ. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n
The 56-year-old delivered six bars of gold bullion to the Comancheros in T\u00fcrkiye and was among hundreds arrested in a June 2021 global FBI sting. <\/p>\n
His name only became public earlier this year, when a suppression order was lifted at a court hearing where he admitted to money laundering.<\/p>\n
Minister’s confidence ‘seriously shaken’<\/p>\n
Goldsmith said today that his confidence in the ministry had been “seriously shaken”.<\/p>\n
“I have received an apology from the Justice Secretary, Andrew Kibblewhite. However, we only found out about this entire episode because my office asked,” he said.<\/p>\n
The review would be conducted by Debbie Francis and Steve Haszard. <\/p>\n
In his capacity as Public Service Minister, Goldsmith has also instructed Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche to write to all chief executives with guidance on managing employment cases that involve criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n
“We need to ensure there are processes firmly in place to stop this from happening again.”<\/p>\n
![\"Justice](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/justice-minister-paul-goldsmith-CT3JFJORNFBNXMKHZHYLWOVMYQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Goldsmith said fair employment processes did not justify passive management.<\/p>\n
“Paying somebody for five years for not working cannot be justified,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Where an employee is on pay and not working, I expect agencies to manage the matter actively, make timely decisions, and keep the interests of taxpayers firmly in view.” <\/p>\n
Harrison previously presented Lotto and also worked on cruise ships as an entertainer.<\/p>\n
His arrest was part of an international operation, called Operation Trojan Shield, which culminated in coordinated raids across 16 countries, including New Zealand, resulting in more than 800 arrests, tons of drugs seized, and millions in cash uncovered.<\/p>\n
In an earlier statement to 1News in July, Justice Ministry acting chief operating officer Andrea King said Harrison had been employed as a kai\u0101rahi (navigator) in the Family Court, starting in June 2021 after passing a criminal record check and vetting.<\/p>\n
![\"Ministry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/exclusive-multiple-businesses-accused-of-abusing-wage-subsid-JJKIPUU7ANE6JGR4NH7JUKWFRI.png\")
<\/p>\n
Ministry of Justice signage (file image) (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
“He was arrested and charged later that month and, once the ministry became aware, he was immediately suspended from his role, pending the outcome of his court case,” she said.<\/p>\n
“From that point on, Mr Harrison was not permitted to work in his role. But because he was in law innocent until proven guilty, a decision about whether to terminate his employment needed to wait until the outcome of the charge was clear.”<\/p>\n
King said the ministry terminated Harrison’s employment following his guilty plea.<\/p>\n
“We are shocked and disappointed at Mr Harrison’s serious criminal offending, and his case in no way should reflect on the outstanding work that our kai\u0101rahi do day in, day out in the Family Court.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Justice Ministry will face a rapid review after a former Lotto presenter accused of money laundering was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,135,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-559565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}