Labour Party election fraudster's immigration job-selling scam case to be reheard

Daljit Singh. Credit: NZPA / David Rowland.

A convicted electoral fraudster and former Labour Party candidate has successfully applied for a case against him over an immigration job-selling scam to be reheard.

The Immigration Advisors Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal had last September found Daljit Singh to have received payment offshore to hide the scam.

But a new decision released this month, the tribunal said it was now satisfied that Singh "neither solicited nor received any fees".

Tribunal chairman Grant Pearson said a rehearing should be granted.

"A factor that should have some weight in that decision is that the finding against Mr Singh is a serious one; it is effectively a finding of grave dishonesty," Pearson said.

Singh had previously been convicted of electoral fraud for registering ineligible voters in Auckland's first Super City elections.

He was sentenced to five months community detention and 200 hours of community work over registering 116 voters, some who lived in India, Timaru and Tauranga, in Otara-Papatoetoe, where he unsuccessfully stood for the local board in 2010.

Parminder Gill claimed his parents paid $16,000 for a restaurant job and visa through Indian bank accounts to Singh and his New Zealand employer.

The complaints against Singh were initially upheld because he did not provide his client with invoices, updates and other written documentation.

Pearson said that finding cannot stand and the tribunal will accordingly rescind it.

The tribunal had earlier said that it had seen multiple cases of dishonest practices in which money changed hands in a migrant's home country, which made this complaint plausible.

Lawyers for Gill had argued then that Singh's claim he provided free immigration services was implausible as he was unlikely to do so without an income, and his veracity should be doubted because he had a conviction for electoral fraud.

"Despite being on notice, Mr Singh chose to remain silent in the face of these allegations," the tribunal said.

Singh produced evidence that his former counsel misrepresented that he could remain silent, and simply required the registrar and complainant to prove the allegation.

"The circumstances come within the general principles where an appeal or application for rehearing is allowed due to a fundamental error on the part of counsel," Pearson said.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment prosecutor Shona Carr accepted that based on banking records produced by Singh, there was no direct evidence he had received any fees from Gill.

Matt Robson, a lawyer and former Alliance list MP and former deputy leader of the Progressive Party, who gave evidence at the hearing, spoke positively of Singh's character.

Robson said Singh's voluntary service characterised him "without hesitation, as an honest, trustworthy and dedicated member of his community".

Manjinder Singh, an executive member of the Supreme Sikh Society of New Zealand, gave evidence that Singh had provided extensive community services as a volunteer, including immigration services.

No evidence was called by either the registrar or Gill.

The counsel who had been representing Gill said he had returned to India and withdrew from the proceedings.

Pearson said the application for hearing was granted, and the factual findings in the previous decision would be overturned to the extent that the tribunal accepted Singh neither received nor solicited any fees.