Maori charged with passport deception bailed in court

Jun 23, 2009, 23:40 GMT

Wellington - The leader of a self-styled Maori sovereignty group, alleged to have charged immigrants hundreds of dollars for stamping fake residence permits in their passports, faced three charges of deception when he appeared Wednesday in court.

Gerard Otimi, who made no plea, was remanded on bail until August 5 to reappear at the Manukau District Court near Auckland and ordered to surrender his passport.

The charges were reported to relate to immigrants from Pacific island states who have overstayed their visitor permits and paid Otimi 500 New Zealand dollars (315 US dollars) each for their passports to be stamped.

Police alleged that they were given certificates of adoption into Otimi's sub-tribe and led to believe that they then had permanent residence visas to stay in New Zealand.

A Maori supporter, Amati Akarana Rewi, told reporters that the court had no jurisdiction over Maoris, according to the New Zealand Herald website.

'Statute is void to the sovereign Maori nation,' he said.

When police arrested Otimi on Tuesday, they said that officers armed with search warrants had recovered 40,000 New Zealand dollars (25,200 US dollars) in cash and 5,000 blank certificates for membership of his sub-tribe from his property.

The charges follow news reports that thousands of Pacific island immigrants attended meetings last week in the Auckland region and paid Otimi 500 New Zealand dollars each in the belief that they were buying permanent residence permits.

Immigration officials estimate that there about 17,000 people who have illegally overstayed their visitor permits in New Zealand, many of them from Pacific island countries like Samoa and Tonga, which have large populations in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.