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The Labour Department has launched an investigation into an alleged cash-for-jobs scam claimed to involve hundreds of students, as well as employers and immigration staff.
The alleged scam was uncovered by self-styled justice campaigner Dermot Nottingham, the Sunday Star-Times reported today.
Nottingham spent eight months secretly filming meetings with the operators after he himself was recruited out of the blue and offered $10,000 to provide a false job offer.
The students needed job offers in skilled work to gain the points necessary to apply for permanent residency.
The scam involved the students paying their own weekly wages, the employer then paying the PAYE tax and depositing the rest into the student's account to give the appearance of a legitimate job.
Immigration Minister Clayton Cosgrove told the newspaper the allegations were "being treated seriously at the highest level".
He said although there was no "concrete evidence" of corrupt immigration employees, "if staff have acted inappropriately they will be dealt with".
"An investigation is under way at an operational level and I'm awaiting the outcome of that, pending that we'll look at whether there needs to be a tightening up of any areas," Cosgrove said.
Mary Anne Thompson, the Department of Labour's deputy secretary of workforce, said department investigators had met with Nottingham and were interviewing two students.
Nottingham had agreed to hand over all his tapes, which contained at least three hours of footage.
- NZPA
