Illegal Malaysian workers tell court of threats to cut off their hands

3.00pm

Threats of hands being chopped off, alleged bribes to immigration officials and Malaysians being lured to work illegally in Marlborough were revealed in Blenheim District Court yesterday.

The case is the first to come to court in New Zealand of alleged migrant smuggling.

Malaysian contractor Heng Lee, 53, faces eight charges of aiding, abetting, inciting, counselling or procuring people to enter New Zealand illegally and eight of aiding people to breach conditions of their permits.

His wife Koi Hen Chan, 51, and daughter-in-law Lay Kheng Chua, 30, each face 16 similar charges under the Immigration Act.

Lee also faces five charges of threatening to cause grievous bodily harm by threatening to chop people's hands off.

At a depositions hearing yesterday, crown witness Yeot Foung Chow said she and her husband left their jobs in Malaysia after they received a fax outlining work opportunities in Marlborough vineyards.

Mrs Chow said the wage on offer equated to more than double what she earned as an accounts clerk.

"We felt good and were very interested," she said.

Chan, who was in New Zealand, told them they could get temporary work permits and apply for proper work permits once they arrived.

In order to get the permits, she was told to forward 800 Malaysia ringgits (NZ$312) for each permit "as well as payment for an immigration officer".

She paid the money and made travel arrangements to New Zealand for her husband and another couple whom they were friends with.

The court heard the four Malaysians left for New Zealand in March last year as part of a group of 28 people, including Chua.

Mrs Chow said Chua told the group to tell immigration officials that they had come to New Zealand as tourists.

The court was told several people were detained at Auckland Airport, but Mrs Chow and others were issued tourist visas and caught a flight to Christchurch.

The next day Mrs Chow, her husband, and their two friends were put up in an apartment in Blenheim next door to four other Malaysians they had travelled with.

They were then told another $1000 was required to "recommend them for the job". The group paid $8000 that evening but did not see a temporary work permit at any stage, she said.

Despite that, they started work at an Oyster Bay vineyard the following day and were paid $14.50 for two days' work.

She said they were told about $150 was deducted for the train fare from Christchurch to Blenheim, hotel charges and house rental.

The group continued working for another five days, or nearly 38 hours work, and received $311.45, less $10 for electricity.

Mrs Chow said the vineyard work was not what they had expected.

"We talked about the job and everyone complained that the job was very harsh.

"When we were tired, we were unable to walk. We had to crawl through the vineyard to do our work," she told the court.

Mrs Chow said the group of eight decided they did not want to continue working in New Zealand.

She said they were told by Chan that they would have to apply for a refugee permit at a cost of $2500 after their three-month visitor's permit expired.

"We were concerned because it's not legal to work without a work permit in New Zealand."

Lee later visited the eight workers at their house and was "furious and very angry", she said.

"He said that someone in Malaysia had threatened to burn his house down in Malaysia.

"He told us that if he knows who that person is he will chop their hands off in front of all of us and this made us very, very scared," Mrs Chow said.

The eight workers decided to leave the country and returned to Christchurch to catch a flight back to Malaysia, two weeks after arriving in New Zealand.

While at the airport, they received a call from one of Lee's workers.

"... we were afraid Lee was trying to track us down. We told him that we were already in Auckland instead of Christchurch," Mrs Chow said.

After arriving in Malaysia the group told their story to the media and went to the New Zealand High Commission to complain about their experience, she said.

The hearing is set to continue for the rest of the week.

- NZPA