Two former restaurant owners have been fined for their part in an immigration scam involving the recruitment of Chinese chefs to work in New Zealand.
Kim Cheung, who ran the Lychee Cafe, and Mo-Hon Man, who owned the Yangtze Restaurant, were sentenced in the Wellington District Court today on Immigration Act charges including providing false information.
Judge Ian Mill said the men may regret their involvement in the scam but they must have seen the effects of what was going on when the chefs arrived in the country.
He fined Cheung $30,000 and ordered $5000 reparation to the victims.
Man was fined $20,000, ordered to pay $6000 reparation and do 250 hours community work.
On Monday, Jinyan Zhang, also known as Jennie Zhang, was given home detention over the same case.
Judge Ian Mill said the Chinese chefs paid Zhang's company $24,000 each to obtain a New Zealand visa and employment but, in many cases, the jobs they were assigned to did not exist and they were paid very little for the work they did for other companies.
