Defence claims witness tells 'pack of lies' in cookery school case

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A defence lawyer has accused a witness of telling "a pack of lies" about her role in complaints against the head of a rival cookery school.

Paul Wicks, acting for Kingsland Institute of New Zealand general manager Donald Han, told North Shore International Academy director Cherry Liu that she was not telling the truth about the real reason for her brother's visit to the rival school.

Ms Liu angrily denied the accusation, telling Mr Wicks not to "point your finger at me".

Han faces two charges of providing false or misleading information to an immigration officer.

The prosecution claims Han set out to deceive Immigration NZ for personal gain by adding $3000 to the bank account of Lan Luo, to make it look as if she had $10,000 to live on.

The defence claims Han was set up by Cherry Liu's brother James and Ms Luo, whose boyfriend worked at the academy.

Yesterday at the Auckland District Court Ms Liu said that when Ms Luo told her she wanted to study at Kingsland, she remembered that her brother had been financially rewarded for introducing a student to Kingsland. So she asked him if he would be interested in taking Luo there.

"That, Ms Liu, is just a pack of lies, isn't it?" said Mr Wicks.

"I don't like you talking to me like that," replied Ms Liu, who said she was appearing as a witness for the prosecution. "You cannot point your finger at me."

She denied a series of claims by Mr Wicks that she had asked Ms Luo to go and make a fake enrolment at the rival school with help from her brother, that the visit was part of her plan to set Han up on immigration charges and that the plan involved supplying Han the $3000 if he did not provide the money himself.

Another witness, NSIA cookery tutor Roger Mail, admitted signing a letter at Han's request which said another student complainant, Nitin Kumar, was being used as a pawn in the dispute between the two schools.