'Money-go-round' paid for residency scam, says SFO

Tuariki Delamere outside the Auckland District Court yesterday. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Former immigration minister Tuariki Delamere used a "money-go-round" to fraudulently secure residency for seven Chinese nationals, a district court was told yesterday.

The man once hailed as Parliament's rising star appeared at a depositions hearing in Auckland yesterday facing seven counts of intending to defraud by use of a document for pecuniary advantage and three counts of forgery.

Delamere held several ministerial posts including customs, associate treasurer and immigration between 1996 and 1999.

The charges, laid by the Serious Fraud Office, allege Delamere falsely conveyed to the Immigration Service that clients of his Auckland-based consultancy had invested at least $1 million of their own money in New Zealand, allowing them to qualify for residency under the business migration category - the introduction of which Delamere oversaw while minister of immigration.

The Crown alleges the money never came from his clients. The $1 million was contributed by a Chinese national and used seven times for seven different applicants. The Chinese man, in return, took a 37 per cent share in Delamere's commission, which ranged between $80,000 and $100,000.

Delamere said he had not broken any laws and the matter boiled down to a matter of legal interpretation.

The week-long hearing will decide if there is a case to answer and if the matter goes to trial.

The Crown describes the workings of Delamere's plan as a "money-go-round". The Chinese national's money would be sent to a Hong Kong bank account before being transferred back to a holding company set up by Delamere and the Chinese man, whose name is suppressed. The details of the transfer would appear under the name of Delamere's client.

Once conditional residency was granted, the money would be transferred out and the process repeated.

The crown alleges the offences took place between September 2001 and November 2003.

It also alleges that Delamere forged documents when applying to convert his clients' provisional residency into an indefinite returning resident's visa.

To qualify, his clients would need to prove they had invested at least $1 million continuously for two years.

The Crown said that for four out of his seven clients, Delamere had submitted documents to deliberately mislead the Immigration Service.

The court also heard from Delamere's Chinese business partner yesterday as the Crown witness.

The man, 36, said he met Delamere after applying for New Zealand residency through a Chinese consultant who had worked closely with Delamere's firm.

When he arrived here in August 2001, he visited Delamere and expressed an interest in joining him in setting up a branch office in China.

He said Delamere introduced a different plan, although he was not initially convinced.

Through a Mandarin interpreter, the man said: "Put it very simple, this $1 million was going to help many people come to New Zealand."

He had asked Delamere "many times" if this was legal. Delamere told him it was "completely legal".

The witness said that he trusted Delamere and his assertions because he was a former immigration minister.

The hearing continues today.

The Serious Fraud Office case

* Tuariki Delamere's Chinese business partner contributed $1 million already in a New Zealand bank account.

* The money was sent to a bona fide Hong Kong travel company, Harvest International Travel, run by two Hong Kong men, close acquaintances of Delamere's partner.

* The money was then transferred in the name of an applicant for New Zealand residency to a holding company, NZ Golden Harvest, set up by Delamere and his partner. Once the Immigration Service granted conditional residency, the process was repeated for another Chinese applicant for residency.

The charges:

* Seven counts of intending to defraud by use of a document for pecuniary advantage.

* Three counts of forgery.