Wellington - A Chinese businessman said to be friendly with
a number of New Zealand members of parliament has been arrested and
charged with immigration and passport offences, a newspaper reported
on Saturday.
Yong Ming Yan - also known as Bill Liu, Yang Liu and William Yan -
was arrested on June 27 as he was about to board a plane to leave the
country, the Weekend Herald reported.
He subsequently appeared in court on 12 charges alleging he made
false declarations on his immigration papers, had false passports and
used deception to gain New Zealand citizenship.
Although police opposed bail, it was granted on condition he
report to the Auckland central police station twice a day, the paper
said.
'The criminal charges are embarrassing for several MPs who
assisted Yan's successful bid for citizenship, granted last August,'
the Herald said.
It reported that the accused, who was charged under the name Yong
Ming Yan, was a multi-millionaire businessman whose application for
citizenship was supported by Chinese-born politician Pansy Wong.
Wong was an opposition member of parliament at the time, but is
now minister of ethnic affairs in the conservative National Party
cabinet.
His bid was also supported by two other parliamentarians, Dover
Samuels and Chris Carter, members of the Labour Party which was in
power at the time.
The paper said immigration officials had opposed the citizenship
application saying they did not know his true identity as he had two
names, two passports and two birth dates.
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