Sunday December 23, 2007

A new immigrant implicated in money-lending at New Zealand casinos could have her citizenship revoked after a history of passport and visa fraud in Australia was uncovered.

Ping Hao, 44, of Auckland, is under investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs, which deals with passports and gambling regulation.

While the department will not be specific, the investigation is believed to concern claims Hao made when she applied for New Zealand citizenship.

Applicants are asked if they have been involved in criminal activity and if they are of "good character".

Inquiries by the Herald on Sunday have found Hao spent six months in an Australian prison after admitting buying three black market Australian passports for $150,000.

She is effectively banned from Australia, even though she holds a New Zealand passport.

Hao is currently in China, having left New Zealand after a High Court case was thrown out. She claimed she was owed $240,000 by Jenny Chen, also of Auckland.

Judge John Faire told the court the case was "set against a background of heavy and addictive gambling in the Chinese community where large sums of money are being transacted in cash". Evidence presented showed the pair had met through Auckland's SkyCity casino, and also visited the Christchurch casino.

The court heard Hao lent Chen cash and money was passed back the other way.

While Hao claimed much of it was for business investment, Chen said that, at one stage, her friend asked for "$100,000 in chips for gambling".

A SkyCity spokesman would not comment on the specific case, but said money lending on the premises was unacceptable and staff would "actively discourage" it.

The Herald on Sunday found that in 2005 Hao spent six months in Australia's Emu Plains Correctional Centre for immigration fraud.

After leaving Australia her entry visa was cancelled, meaning she is unlikely to be admitted again.

A visa appeals decision by tribunal deputy-president Professor Geoffrey Walker says Hao "made false and misleading statements in connection with a number of visa applications and has not been truthful in any of her immigration dealings".

Hao entered Australia in 1997 and stayed for four years on a series of visas. As it become more difficult to get visas, she made contact with "Vietnamese mafia" and bought three passports for $50,000 each - one for her and one each for family members.

Hao's passport was taken by suspicious immigration officials when she returned from a trip to China.

She left Australia at the end of 2000, and, within months, had entered New Zealand on an investment visa by depositing $1 million in a Kiwi bank account.

That became a citizenship application, and she became a New Zealander in 2004. In 2005, Hao used her New Zealand passport to travel to Australia and was picked up at immigration, where charges were laid over the false passports.

In rejecting Hao from Australia, Walker commented on her New Zealand citizenship. He stated: "Whether she would have been successful if the New Zealand authorities had been aware of her adventures in passport fraud may be another matter."

People who fail to provide accurate information or omit information during their application process can be referred to the Minister of Internal Affairs. A spokesman from for the Department said the step of removing citizenship was rarely taken.
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(Source NZ Herald - David Fisher)