MP backs migration-probe agent

Kanwaljit Bakshi. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The immigration agent National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi says is an "honest man" is an Immigration Service target who was implicated in another fraud investigation and has up to 741 unhappy customers.

The agent allegedly took $25,000 off an Indian couple and gave the woman a job offer from Mr Bakshi to assist her residency application.

The application was declined and Kamal Kaur and her husband Kuldeep Singh have alleged they did not get their money back and that Mr Bakshi's job offer was bogus.

But an Immigration Service investigator could not get the couple to make a formal complaint and suspects they might have been "paid off" by Mr Bakshi or his supporters.

The agent was also involved in two other cases where he allegedly took money off Indians and provided them with job offers from Mr Bakshi to assist their residency applications.

Documents obtained by the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act show Mr Bakshi told Immigration Service investigators he still considers the agent to be "an honest man".

The documents also say the agent is a "person of interest" to the Immigration Service but has been out of the jurisdiction of the New Zealand legal system since 2004.

The agent lodged 775 applications with Immigration between 2001 and 2004, with only 34 approved.

"Such a high decline rate raises the question that [the agent] did not have the skills and knowledge to be acting as an immigration consultant during 2001 and 2004."

The documents say the allegation in a separate fraud file support this claim.

In the other cases, a woman said she paid the agent about $25,000 and received a job offer from Mr Bakshi. Her application was also declined.

A man said he paid $2500 to the agent and got a job offer from Mr Bakshi. His application was granted and he came to New Zealand, but never worked or even met Mr Bakshi.

The agent could not be reached for comment and is now believed to be in Australia.

In an interview with the Weekend Herald, Mr Bakshi reiterated that he believed the agent to be an honest man.

"I used to meet him at the temple. A person when you meet him at a religious place, you feel he must be an honest and religious man."

The Immigration Service investigation was closed because of insufficient evidence.

Prime Minister John Key yesterday said if immigration officials had an ongoing concerns about National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, they should continue to investigate them.

"I don't expect [Mr Bakshi] to be treated any differently to any other member of the New Zealand public," said Mr Key.

" I expect my Members of Parliament and my team to be able to pass scrutiny of sort of public test, which any other member of the public would have to pass."

Labour Immigration spokesman Pete Hodgson said "serious questions" hung over Mr Bakshi's behaviour.

He said Mr Bakshi's reference to a "well-wisher" possibly acting on his behalf without his knowledge to pay off Mrs Kaur and Mr Singh needed to be followed up.

He said Mr Key should direct Mr Bakshi to supply a list of possible "well-wishers" to immigration officials to aid them in investigation.