Two immigration consultants admitted their part in a cash-for-passports case before their trial started yesterday in the Manukau District Court.
Benjamin Falelaufi Masoe pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to obtain a New Zealand passport, and to two charges of obtaining a passport with the intent to defraud.
Min Koo Rhee also admitted two charges of obtaining a passport with intent to defraud.
Judge Patrick Treston convicted the men and remanded them on bail to March 23 for sentencing.
He discharged them on other charges relating to the offering of a bribe to an Internal Affairs Department official.
The crown summary of facts said that in July 1999 a Chinese man arriving at Auckland Airport was found with a fax copy of a document sent by Masoe.
The document indicated that genuine New Zealand passports could be fraudulently obtained for prospective immigrants from a departmental staff member.
This caused an investigation by the department and police into corrupt practices and the fraudulent issue and sale of New Zealand passports.
The investigation found that 50 people, mostly Asians, had been issued with passports without obtaining New Zealand citizenship and without having applied for a passport.
In October 1999, police searched the Auckland office of a member of the department's passport office, Christopher Robinson, and the Manurewa home and office of Masoe.
Masoe admitted knowing the passports had been obtained fraudulently and that other immigration agents were also obtaining the passports.
He said his source for the documents was Johnson Vergis, a city restaurateur, who was getting them from a departmental staff member.
Masoe said the passports cost his clients between $25,000 and $32,000, from which he received a $2000 cut.
The rest of the money went to Vergis and the staff member at Internal Affairs.
That staff member was Robinson, who was later jailed for 2 1/2 years for issuing 48 false passports.
Vergis received a stay of prosecution after suffering a stroke that has left him mentally and physically handicapped.
The summary of facts said that Rhee denied fraudulently obtaining passports from Vergis and Robinson for two immigrants.
He said he helped one man to obtain a passport by delivering $40,000 to Vergis.
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