A Malaysian national who made up refugee stories and lied to Immigration in claims for asylum has been convicted on immigration fraud charges at the Auckland District Court.
Nurul Syahirah Binti Noor Azman, 30, was found guilty on five charges of supplying false or misleading information under the Immigration Act 2009.
She made up stories of terror and persecution - including that of a husband being a gay man facing death threats, a woman harassed by loan sharks after her debt-ridden husband died and a couple facing threats from neighbours wanting to burn down their house.
Azman's offending occurred in 2020 and saw her involved in the lodging of false refugee claims with INZ.
Karen Bishop, INZ's acting general manager verification and compliance, says the offending was detected following an operation in the Bay of Plenty in 2020 when INZ was looking into allegations migrant workers in the horticulture industry were being exploited.
"As a result of that work, we discovered migrant workers were being encouraged to falsely claim refugee status to obtain work visas and other privileges," Bishop said.
According to Bishop, Azman was paid up to $600 each to facilitate these fake claims.
The court was told that Azman was on a working holiday in New Zealand where she worked as an interpreter at an Auckland-based law firm.
During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, she lived in Tauranga and stayed at the same place as several migrants who worked as kiwifruit...
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