For better or worse, wedding arranger gets two years' jail

A 52-year-old man who was paid up to $50,000 for arranging fake marriages for Chinese nationals to help them get New Zealand residency has been jailed for two years.

Jing Cheng Jiang, a Glenfield factory worker originally from China, was granted New Zealand residency in 1994 and since 1998 had been matching Chinese businessmen, students and those on work permits up with New Zealanders, marrying them off for money.

He pleaded guilty to 21 charges of using a document with intent to defraud and two charges of providing information to an immigration officer that was misleading.

Judge Robert Kerr yesterday sentenced Jiang to two years in prison with leave to apply for home detention.

The Auckland District Court heard Jiang helped to prepare documents, coached the immigrants and their paid partners on how to answer Immigration Service questions and took photos of the couples to support documentation.

Immigration Service fraud investigator John Marston said Jiang received between $8000 and $50,000 a marriage.

He said that since the fraud service was set up in 2002, 114 people had been prosecuted for providing false information.

All of the Chinese nationals involved in Jiang's ring had been sent home after serving community work sentences.

Between September 1998 and February 2003 Jiang married off six couples.

The Chinese nationals involved were either friends or associates of his. The New Zealanders, paid for their services, were recruited through a friend.

Defence lawyer Geoffrey Anderson told the court Jiang was a "gofer" who worked with another Chinese man who had "scarpered" back to China and taken any money they made with him.

Crown prosecutor David Johnstone said Jiang was "instrumental" in the racket, which without his help in recruiting people would never have got off the ground.

The two New Zealanders charged over the racket, Sean Skinner and his sister Julie, both received community work sentences.

The Crown alleges Skinner's sister received $20,000 for her marriage to Dayong Li, who had advertised in a newspaper for a wife and was picked up by Jiang. The pair married in May 2001.

Skinner is alleged to have received about $6000 for marrying Fang Bao, a Chinese student, in October 2000.

Judge Kerr said in sentencing Jiang that his offending was premeditated and the victim was New Zealand itself.

A probation report said Jiang had wanted a community-based sentence or to pay a fine.

"Neither are appropriate because of the need for deterrence and, even more important than that, because of the need to protect New Zealand's borders from persons who are not entitled to gain access to residency in New Zealand."