KEY POINTS:
A man convicted of selling worthless "Government of Aotearoa" work permits to two Thai nationals has been jailed for 21 months.
John Hikuwai, 53, of Wainui Bay in Northland, was sentenced in Auckland District Court today after being found guilty in February by Judge Lindsay Moore of charging Thaen Charoephan and Nongnuch Ruengsakul $500 each for the false permits in 2002.
Hikuwai was also found guilty of three breaches of immigration legislation by falsely declaring that the applicants understood the contents of a claim for refugee status before signing the documents.
Hikuwai's lawyer Lester Cordwell said today that his client was reasonably pleased with the sentence.
"We thought it was fair in the circumstances of the case," Mr Cordwell said.
Hikuwai was given leave to apply for home detention, something Mr Cordwell hoped would come before the Parole Board in the near future.
In a reserved decision in February which was delivered about a year after the case was heard, Judge Moore said the permits issued to the Thai couple were "not worth the paper they were written on".
"There can be no question but that the basis for each claim did not come from the respective applicants, but was a dishonest and indeed abusive exercise dreamt up by Mr Hikuwai and his associates who used it over and over again."
After being turned down for permanent residence, Ms Ruengsakul and Mr Charoephan, who had arrived in 1999, sought other ways to remain in New Zealand and became associated with the Wat Thai Temple in Avondale, which Hikuwai was associated with.
Hikuwai was said to have told the couple that their immigration prospects would be improved by being adopted by Maori at a cost of $3000 for the family.
When they arrived at his marae at Wainui Bay, there were 30 other Thai people going through the same process.
Judge Moore said Hikuwai and his colleagues later persuaded the couple that their immigration situation would be enhanced by obtaining Government of Aotearoa work permits at a cost of $500 each.
He said that Hikuwai's assertions to an immigration investigator as to the validity of the work permits were "ridiculous and incredible."
They were "100 per cent ineffectual and meaningless," they conferred no right to work in New Zealand and "were not worth the paper they were written on," the judge said.
Hikuwai became known in the late 1990s for challenging fishing regulations under the flag of the Confederation of Chiefs of the United Tribes of Aotearoa.
- NZPA
