Would-be MP loses immigration fraud appeal

An ex-parliamentary and mayoral candidate has lost his appeal against conviction and sentence for his part in an immigration fraud.

Pakistan-born Arshad Mahmood Chatha, 40, was found guilty by a jury in the High Court at Wellington in August last year of five fraud charges and one of having an implement of forgery.

The charges included three counts of using a document with intent to defraud, two of obtaining Pakistani passports with intent to defraud and one of possessing an implement for forgery - a rubber stamp purporting to come from a doctor's surgery in Pakistan.

Chatha was jailed for two years.

The Court of Appeal, in a reserved judgment today, dismissed his appeal.

Chatha is a Pakistani national, with New Zealand citizenship.

He had previously stood for mayor of Palmerston North and ran for Parliament in 2002 and 2005 as an independent MP.

- NZPA