Oh yes, for sure he was a smuggler. But, not all smuggling can be bad. For example, how many species would be/ will be lost to history if people didn't smuggle them out of areas slated for deforestation?
Seems to me, in my experience, that in many countries in which orchids are found, people just don't care how many orchids are destroyed in order to make housing projects, roads, farms, etc. Therefore, if a smuggler takes plants, has them described and announced to the world, does it really matter that he took plants now that those plants are known and can be propagated? Honestly, I find it more deplorable when locals extirpate species from areas with no regards to the survival of the species in its habitat.
I won't pretend to know what Kovach's motive was, other than to get his name on the plant. What followed, with regards to the removal of plants from the habitat, was not his fault. The days of Veitch and Sander, as previously mentioned, are somewhat over and I think an unfair comparison. I can't remember the last time I saw crates of smuggled orchids arriving in the U.S. or Europe to be sold at auction. On the flip-side, we hear a lot on this Forum of shipments of plants, taken by locals, shipped to flower markets across Asia.
Just my $0.02.
