Man accused of running migrant marriage scam

By BRIDGET CARTER

A Chinese factory worker is in court accused of running a marriage-for-residency scam and paying young Aucklanders more than $10,000 to take part.

Jing "Eddie" Cheng Jiang, 50, of Glenfield, allegedly ran the racket for about five years, taking more than US$18,000 ($25,000) from young Chinese to marry them off to New Zealanders.

A three-day depositions hearing began in the North Shore District Court yesterday to determine whether there is a case to answer on 17 charges of intent to defraud using a document and seven charges of misleading an immigration officer.

An Otara supermarket worker, Sean Skinner, and an Auckland solo mother, who has name suppression, said they heard about the alleged racket through friends and thought it would be a good way to earn money.

Mr Skinner was to be paid $12,000 and the solo mother $16,000.

The court heard Jiang had telephoned them, picked them up and arranged in one case for photos with the prospective marriage partner. They were married at registry offices in Auckland several weeks later.

They said Jiang paid them in instalments - first for registering the marriage, then for the marriage itself and again when their Chinese spouse had residency.

The mother said she signed forms and rehearsed answers to questions about such things as what the couple had eaten for dinner to make the scam believable.

At one stage, when she considered backing out of the deal, she received death threats from the accused and her prospective husband.

Jiang's lawyer, Geoff Anderson, put it to her that she had rung the accused on various occasions and that he was helping her.

A Chinese student, Dayong Li, said that after he had paid US$18,000 to Jiang for his marriage at Sky City, he learned his residency application had been deferred.

He said Jiang - a Chinese national who has been in New Zealand for 10 years - asked him for more money.