AN immigration consultant has denied dishonestly obtaining more than $500,000 with false promises of permanent jobs in New Zealand.
Aaron Nattrass, 34, pleaded not guilty in the District Court to 35 charges arising from offences he allegedly committed between January 1988 and September 1990.
Charges include obtaining property by deception, evasion of liability by deception, uttering forged documents and conspiracy to defraud.
Nattrass was accused of trying to defraud the New Zealand Government by claiming that Hong Kong residents had been offered full-time jobs in New Zealand. He allegedly produced false letters of job offers to support their applications.
Defence lawyer Paul Harris said he had been unable to locate former New Zealand civil servant Ron Burton, an important witness.
Mr Harris said he had contacted the New Zealand Consulate-General, where Mr Harris once worked, to discover Mr Burton's whereabouts. The consulate told him in a letter that it did not have the information. However, even if they did, they would not give it out because of the country's Privacy Act.