An email between former labour contracting firm Mana Corp director Mallikarjuna Chunduri and others, including Mr Herder, was discussed in court.
Mr Herder told the court of the situation related to a "compromise" that allowed some 23 Indian workers, including complainants in this case, to come to New Zealand.
The Court yesterday heard a poorly-drafted letter from INZ caused confusion over which countries Mana Corp could hire workers from.
Yesterday, Mr Herder said a meeting in March 2009 between Mana Corp's lawyer, Jaswinder Singh Sangha, and a third person reached a compromise.
"The agreement was to allow the recruitment of up to 25 Indian nationals...under the recognised seasonal employer's scheme."
Today, Mr Bamford asked Mr Herder if he'd "been involved in the negotiations of what you might describe as a special arrangement, with Mana Corp and their lawyers?"
"Yes, that was in regards to the approval in principle," Mr Herder responded.
In June 2009 Mr Herder was "reasonably actively involved" in arranging work permits for the Indian workers.
Mr Herder said employment for the Indians was supposed to end when the "limited purpose visa" they'd been granted expired after 7 months.
Auckland-based lawyer Ron Mansfield, currently representing Kim Dotcom, is expected to arrive in Nelson tomorrow to represent Jaswinder Singh Sangha.
The trial is expected to last some five weeks, and includes interpreters translating Punjabi and Telugu.
The workers from Punjab were deemed to come from a "very high-risk area", in the opinion of an INZ staffer in New Delh, who told Mr Herder the applicants were also young and generally had no stable work in India.
"There was also a suggestion that a few of that had 'declined' stamps on their passports?" Mr Bamford asked Mr Herder.
"That's what the email states, yes."
Crown prosecutor Mark O'Donoghue objected to allowing questions about the email, which he called hearsay.
Justice Robert Dobson allowed the email to be discussed but told the jury not to pay too much attention to the opinions of a person who would not actually appear at the trial to give evidence.
The Crown says the three men on trial profited from a criminal conspiracy.
The defence has said the workers conjured up claims about the three men, and were unreliable complainants.
CHARGES:
• Jaswinder Singh Sangha: 7 charges of arranging entry into NZ by deception
• Jaswinder Singh Sangha and Satnam Singh: Jointly face 11 charges of arranging entry into NZ by deception
• Jaswinder Singh Sangha and the third man: Jointly face 36 charges relating to providing false information to a refugee status officer.
Mr Bamford pointed to an immigration policy from July 2011 that allowed victims of people trafficking to stay in New Zealand, if multiple criteria were met.
The policy let people who could prove to police they were trafficking victims, couldn't go home and faced risks including financial or physical danger, become residents.
Mr Herder told Mr Bamford he couldn't comment on whether the complainants on this case could be described as victims of people trafficking.
Mr Herder told Steven Zindel, lawyer for the third man, that he understood the workers involved came from Jalandhar, Punjab.
Mr Zindel referred to the "paperwork difficulties" that spawned the compromise.
An aide-memoire, or note, to former associate immigration minister Kate Wilkinson, whose approval officials needed for the 23 Indian workers, was discussed.
Mr Zindel asked Mr Herder if "there was some pressure to approve the compromise because of the pruning season" looming in the wine industry.
The witness said this was the case.
The lawyer then asked Mr Herder what happened to the workers arriving in June 2009.
"Once we discovered there was no work for them it was a question of whether they could work elsewhere."
But Mr Herder said work outside Marlborough for the Indians was not feasible.
