A corrupt police officer who was put behind bars after admitting to illegally accessing the police database to leak information to gangs, has been stripped of his police pension.

In November, Vili Mahe Taukolo was jailed for 2 years and 2 months for accessing the police's National Intelligence Application (NIA) and then leaking the information to gangs between February 2018 and March last year.

Stuff can now reveal the High Court has ordered Taukolo to forfeit $80,000 including his police pension under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009.

Court documents obtained by Stuff state, in May last year Justice Christian Whata granted restraining orders over the sale of a Nissan Pathfinder and all Taukolo's funds held in the Police Superannuation Scheme account.

The total restrained funds were $85,323.28.

At the conclusion of Taukolo's criminal proceedings, the Commissioner and Taukolo engaged in settlement discussions, court documents show.

FACEBOOK Vili Mahe Taukolo accessed the NIA to sell information to an organised criminal group.

They agreed Taukolo would forfeit $80,000 and $5,323.28 would be paid back to the former cop, a joint memorandum filed to the court by Mark Harborow, representing the Commissioner and Marie Dyhrberg QC representing Taukolo states.

The memo states the forfeit of the $80,000 is appropriate given the criminal offending and Harborow said the Commissioner has a "strong case to show that the funds are tainted".

In February Justice Geoffrey Venning approved the settlement and ordered Taukolo to forfeit $80,000.

Detective Inspector Lloyd Schmid said Taukolo's actions were disgraceful and a proceeding under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was initiated to recover all of the proceeds generated form his offending.

The entire amount earned from his offending has been forfeited, Schmid said.

"We want to assure the public that all profits made illegitimately by this offender have been stripped of him."

SELLING INFO TO GANGS

Taukolo began working for the police in 2015 as an authorised officer before becoming a sworn officer in 2016.

At the time of the offending he was a constable working in Auckland Central.

"You found yourself in the company of organised criminals who kept asking for further information, what might have been a one-off assistance to an old friend, turned into an endless cycle," Judge Cunningham said.

David Johnstone said Taukolo broke his police oath by illegally accessing the database for the purposes of assisting organised crime groups and then made a personal profit of tens of thousands of dollars in cash.

He said the offending spanned a full year. Taukolo went into the NIA application and moved beyond the first page where it warned about potential criminal ramifications about misusing the information.

Johnstone said the corruption was driven out of personal gain.

JASON DORDAY/STUFF Defence lawyer Marie Dyhrberg QC argued for permanent name suppression for Taukolo.

​Taukolo searched the database more than 20,000 times over a 16-month period. A quarter of those were made on a day off, which in itself is not allowed by the police.

While Taukolo was on leave or unwell, he made about 1200 searches. Some of the searches included finding details on 34 of his colleagues, himself and his family members.

The court heard he made a profit of $70,000 and when police conducted a search of his home found nearly $30,000 cash in his bedroom.

In October 2018, he searched for details on a high profile police investigation which involved a methamphetamine importation case in Christchurch.

Irregularities in Taukolo's searches prompted police to audit the NIA searchers which prompted the investigation.

Johnstone said the former cop would look at addresses before then looking up interested persons.

​Taukolo was also convicted for wilfully damaging the Femme Fatale brothel in September and fined $250.

Earlier this year, former Police Commissioner Mike Bush announced a new National Integrity Unit which would focus on deterring, preventing and detecting corruption.

Bush said corruption was "still very rare" in the police force, however the force has zero tolerance for corruption.

"As organised criminal groups attempt to grow and proliferate, it is important we remain vigilant against attempts to infiltrate, and have measures in place to protect our staff as much as possible from compromise and corruption," Bush said.

Police target offenders profiting through criminal activity and Schmid encouraged anyone who has knowledge of people who are profiting from crime to report that information to Police or through Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.