An Afghan-born man has been jailed for nine months for falsely claiming refugee status.
Sarwar Rahimi, aged 44, had admitted making false statements in his application for refugee status in July 1996 after he arrived in New Zealand using a refugee travel document with a substitute photo.
In the Auckland District Court yesterday, Judge Robert Kerr said Rahimi claimed he had been imprisoned and tortured in Afghanistan because he had been an Army officer and a member of the secret police during communist rule.
After obtaining refugee status in New Zealand, he had received unemployment benefits in excess of $36,000.
Judge Kerr said authorities found that Rahimi had not been an Army officer or a member of the secret police, and had never been persecuted.
In fact, he had been a long-term resident in Asia, using a number of identities.
He had destroyed a Pakistani passport before arriving in New Zealand.
Rahimi was married with children, one of whom had been born in New Zealand.
Jail for false refugee bid
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