A Chinese man living in Christchurch has admitted selling his passport which was then used by an imposter to enter Australia from Hong Kong.
Hao Tan, a 35-year-old retailer from Halswell, has been remanded for sentencing on December 4 after pleading guilty in the Christchurch District Court today to a charge of improperly dealing with a passport.
Judge Gary MacAskill asked for a pre-sentence report to include Tan's suitability for sentences of home or community detention. Prosecutor Barnaby Hawes said the Crown had no objection to Tan continuing on bail during the remand.
Tan originally faced four charges, including people smuggling, when he first appeared in court last year among a group of five Chinese-born men who were arrested in Christchurch.
But when he pleaded guilty today, the Crown had dropped the charges of people smuggling, dishonestly using a document, and making a false statement. He has no previous convictions.
The Crown described it as a case of "transit visa immigration fraud".
Chinese passports were obtained from Chinese nationals who were either permanent or temporary residents in New Zealand.
Australian transit visas were then sought from the Australian Consulate on these passports.
The passports were then sent to China and were used by imposters to enter Australia where they would then claim refugee status or asylum. The legitimate owner of the passport in New Zealand would then report their passport lost.
Tan applied for a transit visa in October 2008, and his passport was used for an imposter to enter Australia from Hong Kong that month. Tan was still in New Zealand at that time. He then reported his passport stolen.
He was later questioned and admitted that he had applied for the transit visa and then forwarded the documents to Hong Kong, knowing that the passport would be used by another person.
He said he received between $3000 and $5000 for the passport.
"He said he needed the money as he was in financial difficulty and that an associate had told him what to do in order to get some quick cash," said Hawes.
Defence counsel Serina Bailey said the offending was "relatively less dramatic than originally thought".
Four other men arrested at the same time have indicated they will defend the charges and are remanded on bail to December.作者: platinum888 时间: 2013-10-12 22:19:02