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An Iraqi man convicted of immigration fraud after an investigation by police into possible terror links is fighting to stay in New Zealand.
Salam Mansoor Abdelabbas Al-Bawi was sentenced to six months' home detention in March after admitting coming to New Zealand on a false Danish passport and later applying for citizenship and a passport using the fake name John Joseph.
The Department of Internal Affairs is investigating his citizenship, beginning a process that could lead to his deportation.
Al Bawi, who came to New Zealand in 2000, has just opened the Fishmonger fish and chip shop in Birkenhead on Auckland's North Shore - still under the name of John Joseph.
The court file, viewed by the Weekend Herald, shows Al-Bawi came to police attention in May 2005 after a US$76,000 withdrawal he made from a Parnell bank was reported as a suspicious transaction.
Al-Bawi, travelling as John Joseph and with the New Zealand passport, took the cash with him to wartorn Iraq - which the police special investigation team believed was a "a cause for concern".
Police found the identity to be fake after sending a copy of fingerprints to Denmark, establishing him as Al-Bawi and revealing a violence conviction he had not declared on arrival here.
The court documents show Al-Bawi did not declare the cash to Customs as is required with all sums over $10,000.
When he returned in August, he initially denied having been to Iraq before stamps in his passport were found.
He had been there twice on the three-month trip, as well as to Europe, Lebanon, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
He also claimed he was a Christian until a Koran was found in his bag and he admitted he was a Muslim.
Customs also described him as having "some sort of wound" on his head.
In the documents, Detective Sergeant Aaron Pascoe said: "We didn't know why Mr Al-Bawi had been to Iraq, but we were certainly concerned it could have been for a reason that could have included being involved in insurgency, terrorism."
Police also found Al-Bawi had previously received $200,000 from a person in Lebanon whom he would not name. He had made two other trips overseas that year as John Joseph and was also spending up to $11,500 a month on toll calls.
The documents show Al-Bawi's defence lawyer has said the money was lent by family members and was "nothing sinister".
Detectives from the special investigation group searched Al-Bawi's Remuera home in February 2006, finding the false Danish passport and other apparently fake documents.
Al-Bawi, then running a driving instructor business, was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to four fraud-related charges.
The court documents show Al-Bawi has said he fled to New Zealand from Iraq in 2000.
He said he was accused of being involved in a terrorist killing of an Iraqi security official in 1999, was tortured until he admitted it and was then sentenced to death.
A 9mm pistol was found at his house. He said escaped from jail after his father bribed guards.
He eventually became a New Zealand resident.
However, the police investigations found he had entered Denmark in 1995 and had been there until coming to New Zealand.
The criminal conviction he did not declare was for "loss of liberty with distress" when a man signed a notice of debt after being "subjected to kicks and blows".
It led to Al-Bawi serving a four-month suspended sentence.
Al-Bawi's lawyer, Paul Davison, QC, told the Weekend Herald he was intending to appeal against the convictions on the grounds that the guilty pleas were made without the right advice from an earlier lawyer.
If they were overturned, he said, it could "change the landscape" of any challenge to Al-Bawi's citizenship.
Al-Bawi would not comment yesterday.
WHO IS SALAM AL-BAWI?
*An Iraqi who came to New Zealand in 2000 on a false Danish passport as Mohamed Kharbouch.
* Obtained citizenship as John Joseph, claims he fled Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.
* Revealed as being Salam Al Bawi in 2005 after police checks revealed he came via Denmark where he had a violence conviction.
* Now back using identity John Joseph, including on official Companies Office records for his fish and chip shop.
* New Zealand citizenship "being investigated", beginning a process that could lead to deportation.
