Samoan ruler asked for help - accused scammer

Gerard Otimi. Photo / Greg Bowker

The man accused of running a passport scam says he was asked by the King of Samoa to stamp passports and provide protection to overstayers.

Gerard Otimi faces 36 counts of altering a document with intent to deceive and one of giving immigration advice without a licence.

Otimi represented himself at a pre-trial hearing at the District Court in Manukau where he argued that the charges should be dropped.

A number of his supporters were present in court, carrying placards which read "Otimi hapu" and "ambassador" on them.

Otimi told the court that there are 140,000 overstayers in New Zealand and the Immigration department had so far turned a blind eye.

"The Government is neglecting their responsibilities with regards to these people here, as far as their human rights are concerned."

The Crown alleges Otimi stamped passports and issued certificates which said the bearer was adopted into his hapu for $500.

Otimi had acknowledged the $500, which he called a koha, but said the money was to be spent on health, education and housing, and some of it had since been returned.

He produced emails that showed he had been in contact with the Immigration Department before police raided his home and arrested him last year.

Otimi said he was trying to help people who "had nowhere to turn to".

"I looked at it and thought something had to be done - as an entrepreneur, as a kaumatua and as a Maori."

He said he had not altered a passport but simply stamped it after being asked to do so by the King of Samoa.

Otimi, who is representing himself, said his hapu are sovereign people and have adopted the overstayers.

"I can't utilise the lawyers because it would take me too long to educate them."

Otimi said that the Crown has no jurisdiction to bring the charges against him on the basis of Tino Rangatiratanga (self-determination).

He cited the 1835 Declaration of Independence and said the Treaty of Waitangi was a document signed to help govern pakeha.

"The Treaty of Waitangi to us is the immigration document that allowed white settlers to come to New Zealand."

Crown Prosecutor Ross Burns argued Otimi had altered the passport by adding the stamp, and had deprived people of $500.

"Those people had passports stamped and paid a sum of money in order to do that. Whether it was a fee or koha, as Mr Otimi said, generally it was $500 per individual or family."

Mr Burns also addressed the issue of sovereignty and cited case law.

"Any New Zealand citizen who resides in the country is subject to the laws of the country."

Otimi also applied to have his bail restrictions altered so he could visit Canada and Pacific nations. He said he had been invited to speak on indigenous issues.

Mr Burns said he would need travel information before granting his consent. The application will be heard by a judge at a later date.

Judge Lovell-Smith reserved her decision on whether or not Otimi will face trial.

If the trial goes ahead it could last more than two months. Over 120 witnesses are likely to be called, many of whom will need translators.

Outside court, Otimi told nzherald.co.nz that he would be using the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in his defence.

The Declaration was signed last week by Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples on behalf of the Government.

"This is history in the making, he said.

Mr Otimi said he sees a time when separate Maori authorities will stand alongside their pakeha counterparts and provide services from issuing drivers' licences to education qualifications.

He said he was just trying to help people who were in desperate situations and said he had seen a woman who was eight months pregnant deported.

"You imagine what it's like when the police with the Immigration Department come and lock you up and send you on a plane."

Otimi hails from Ngati Maniapoto but the Maniapoto Maori Trust Board told the Herald last year it had not heard of the hapu under which he promoted his scheme.