Monks in migrant scam

By EUGENE BINGHAM and JOHN ANDREWS


Nearly 300 Thais claiming religious asylum in New Zealand with the help of a suspicious Buddhist temple face deportation.

New Zealand and Thai authorities have been investigating the validity of the 285 refugee applications and the organisation behind the scheme, which last night looked on the verge of being shut.

A Weekend Herald investigation has revealed that the main figures in the suspected scam are two exiled monks from Thailand, a Bangkok businessman who claims to be a former spy, and a New Zealand fisherman who sparked the row over Maori customary rights.

The Northland fisherman, John Hikuwai, has also helped the asylum-seekers obtain drivers' licences issued by a "Maori Government of Aotearoa Transport Office".

The Thai businessman, who goes by aliases including Nuttapat Tamaraksaroj, Dr Lee and Chris Siam, has been linked with several immigration schemes around the world.

Immigration Service chief operating officer Andrew Lockhart said last night that the Refugee Status Appeals Authority had yesterday declined 12 applications from temple members.

One of the decisions was a precedent, meaning it was likely the other appeals would be dismissed too.

"We are now looking at those 12 to see what we need to do in terms of revoking permits or removing them if they have already overstayed," said Mr Lockhart.

The temple group was probably the largest to apply together, he said. The applications had been closely monitored because of the number and the background.

Thai officials believe the refugee applicants have been fleeced of about $1 million through the operation.

They accuse Mr Nuttapat of setting the applicants up in low-skilled jobs and skimming off some of their wages.

Mr Nuttapat said the asylum-seekers found their own work, and he did not charge them much for processing their applications.

Half of the money they paid was a donation to the temple.

"Everything I have done [has been] by the law in New Zealand. I do anything to help people," said Mr Nuttapat, who is seeking religious asylum after failing to gain political asylum.

The scheme centres around three properties in a New Lynn street.

One of the houses has been turned into a temple with Buddhist statues in the lounge. Two donation boxes and an Eftpos machine are also in the room.

The first secretary of the Royal Thai Embassy, Poondarik Sundarabhag, said the temple was not a recognised religious site and the Department of Religion in Bangkok was investigating.

The two monks did not have permission to practise outside Thailand.

Ms Poondarik said the embassy was helping the Immigration Service to deal with the refugee applications.

Many of the applicants are overstayers who have been here for up to five years and have sought asylum with the help of Thammagay Immigration.

The company is part-owned by the New Zealand Thammagay Buddhist Trust and Mr Nuttapat.

He also appears on records as a director under the name Chris Siam.

A Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in Bangkok heard evidence that the Thammagay group had set up the asylum-seekers with work and then "cheated" them by claiming up to 100,000 baht ($5000) a head.

The Weekend Herald understands that some of the refugee claimants are receiving unemployment benefits, but most work in jobs such as fruit-picking, labouring and dish-washing.

Mr Nuttapat said he had not helped the asylum-seekers to find jobs.

"They came here on their own - some people came five years ... and now they are overstayers."

He had intervened when they came to see the monks, helping them make refugee claims on the grounds of religious persecution.

The Thai Government had been unfairly targeting their temple and making unjustified claims about the monks, said Mr Nuttapat.

Mr Hikuwai, who stirred controversy several years ago when he flouted fishing regulations under the flag of the Confederation of Chiefs of the United Tribes, said he had acted as a voluntary consultant for the Thammagay group.

Company records show he also has business connections with Mr Nuttapat.

This week, however, the pair fell out over a business disagreement and the police were called to the premises twice.

The first time, Mr Nuttapat was ordered to leave after police checked who had the legal right to be on the property.

But on Thursday, Mr Nuttapat returned with three bodyguards and spoke to the monks. Mr Hikuwai was then asked to leave.

Mr Hikuwai said he and a friend, Graham Williams, had been trying to help Thai people who were in a bad situation.

"I'm trying to do my best for them," he said. "We do not want people running around as desperadoes. Some of these people are victims of a scam, some are victims of bad judgment. They [thought] they could hide here among four million people."

Mr Nuttapat said he was unhappy when he found out that drivers' licences Mr Hikuwai had been helping the claimants to obtain were worthless.

He said he had contacted the Security Intelligence Service to tell it of the activities of the self-proclaimed Maori government.

Mr Nuttapat claimed he was an intelligence officer for the Thai military.

The Herald's investigations have uncovered other proposals to "export" Thai workers.

In one, now the subject of a police inquiry in Thailand, 162 Thai fishermen were left out of pocket after paying brokerage fees for South Korean jobs that never eventuated.

Mr Hikuwai said he went to Thailand to crew a fishing boat that was supposed to go to South Korea to pick up a Thai crew employed by a company involving Mr Nuttapat.

But the deal fell through, and Mr Hikuwai returned to New Zealand.

The Herald has learned of other proposals under which Mr Nuttapat set up other companies and investigated the possibility of bringing workers or trainees to New Zealand for fishing or farming work.

It is understood the projects have fallen through after the intervention of New Zealand and Thai authorities.

Mr Lockhart confirmed last night that Mr Hikuwai was involved in one proposal to bring about 200 Thai people to New Zealand on work permits.

"We did not think they were bona fide workers who were going to take up the employment," said Mr Lockhart.