Stuff reports :-
An Auckland student has been sentenced to five months home detention and ordered to pay reparation of $30,000 for GST fraud, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said today.
In a statement the IRD said Bing Liu was caught using dummy companies.
He was sentenced in the Auckland District Court after admitting to 15 charges related to GST returns involving $44,350.
Liu, who is in New Zealand on a student visa, listed himself as a director for 10 companies registered with the Companies Office and filed GST returns for them
Seems weird to me – maybe the judge thought we would get some money back or there were circumstances not reported but I think this is a classic case for immediate deportation. Important to get message to students that they have no right to be here and any crime certainly one of this scale and complexity results in them being sent home.
hear, hear. This was no spur of the moment failure of judgement but a well-planned fraud. Considering the hurdles that honest immigrants have to go through to be in NZ, it is very annoying to read of cases like this.
Trevor – I agree with you. In fact I would go further and say that any person on a visitor / student and temporary work permit that is convicted of crime more serious that speeding shall immediately be deported (or is appropriate after any custodial sentence). This must include fraud, theft, poaching, drug offences, and harm to any other person.
Also I believe any immigrant /refugee/ etc must also understand that they are on a good behaviour obligation and risk deportationif they are convicted of a serious crime (there are probably significant legal issues involved with this)
Agreed Trev, our resources are being taken up making sure that this crim doesn’t leave his home!
Whoa…
I wonder why he being kept here, I say this must be something going on behind the scenes.
Like Dorothy said, this mocks honest immigrants who try very hard to get here to NZ and do better for themselves through honest work
There Seems to be a problem with people with the name Liu.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10538260
Maybe he is related to Bill Liu and that is why he is able to stay here. Perhaps Shane Jones could shed some light on this…or maybe Rick Barker.
Trevor, as a member of the legislature it’s probably not too wise to criticise the judiciary, just as you would not expect the judiciary to publicly criticize the government.
Besides, without reading a judgement or transcript where the circumstances are fully known, criticising sentences seems inappropriate anyway. There could be plenty of extenuating circumstances that often the media doesn’t seem to report (in the search for a villain).
Josh: When does Trevor worry about the truth getting in the way of a good story?
This story IS true,
Josh , the point has been made , our limited resources are being used to make sure this person stays in his home while his sentence is served.
He is here of course only on a student visa. No chance of going to a course unless its allowed.
A better sentence would have been a fortnight in the slammer then the next plane out of here
They should have a special plane for deportees, with a boot going to a bent over person on the side
@Josh “Seems weird to me – maybe the judge thought we would get some money back or there were circumstances not reported but I think”
He said there might be good reasons for the judge saying so and its hardly a damning criticism.
At any rate I agree with you on this one Trevor. With temporary permits comes a duty to abide by the rules of a country even more strongly than a normal citizen would. There should be immediate deportation for all who choose to commit serious crimes because they have shown that they have not come here on good intentions.
Let’s hope that this crim doesn’t have a student loan and well …
Once we were a country with little scamming and fraud. Nowdays it seems to be an epidemic. I am for instant deportation for those who abuse our hospitality. I am also in favour of a 7 year trial citizenship period. If you offend during this time your citizenship is revoked and you are deported.
Great idea