Tauranga woman admits immigration fraud

Aneela Wati, 64, pleaded guilty in the Tauranga District Court yesterday to a charge of knowing producing a fraudulently obtained visa at Auckland International Airport. Photo/File

The wife of a Tauranga man jailed for two years and nine months after he created a fake identity to obtain New Zealand residency has herself admitted immigration fraud.

Aneela Wati, 64, is the wife of Satya Nand, who created a new identity in the name of Rana Khan to stay in the country after his visitor's visa expired on January 12, 1997.

He told Immigration NZ officials he was born in India, went to Bangladesh when he was 1, and at 18 his whole family was massacred by a group of Bangladeshis.

Nand claimed he was persecuted, beaten up and stabbed at a Bangladesh refugee camp, so made his way to Hong Kong where he lived unlawfully for two years, before arriving in Tauranga as a stowaway onboard a ship.

Nand, who was in fact in New Zealand and Fiji the entire time, was granted several work permits, New Zealand residence and obtained citizenship using his bogus identity.

In February he was jailed in Tauranga District Court to a representative charge of using false documentation to obtain a benefit.

In the same court yesterday, Wati, 64, pleaded guilty to a charge of producing a visa at Auckland International Airport knowing it was obtained fraudulently.

Lawyer Jessica Rose pleaded guilty to the charge on her client's behalf as Wati had to be assisted in court by a Fijian-Hindi speaking family member.

The summary of facts also revealed that in 1989, following the dissolution of Wati's marriage to Satya Nand, she remained in Fiji and raised their four children.

Between 2001 and 2008 Nand made 10 trips to Fiji and reunited with Wati, and he continued to use his false identity.

Wati remarried her former husband in Fiji on June 10, 2002, and lodged a resident visa application with the NZ Immigration Service in Fiji based on her marriage to Rana Khan.

In support of her residence application, her eldest son provided a letter of support, and Wati lodged a sponsorship declaration created by Nand in Tauranga in May 2002.

She and three of her children were granted a New Zealand residence visa on April 15, 2004.

Wati was aware of her husband's use of a false identity but failed to disclose the falsehoods to New Zealand immigration officials.

On her arrival at Auckland International Airport on May 23, 2004, she presented her NZ residence visa and was granted entry and a residence permit.

Judge Peter Rollo further remanded Wati on bail pending sentence on May 24, and the judge also called for a home detention report.