Immigration fraud — refugee status — use of a document for a pecuniary advantage — s 229A(b) Crimes Act 1961 — sentencing — Department of Labour v Liao, High Court, Auckland, 14/4/2005, CRI-2004-404-499, Keane J — R v Hassan [2008] NZCA 402. The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of using a document to obtain a benefit and defeat New Zealand's immigration services. In 1996, the defendant came to New Zealand on a visitor's permit, which expired in 1997. Between 1996 and 1998 the defendant created a false identity as someone who was born in India and who travelled to Bangladesh and then stowed away to Hong Kong before coming to Tauranga. In 1998 the defendant lodged an application for refugee status, falsely saying that his entire family was massacred and that he went to a refugee camp where he was persecuted, beaten up, and stabbed so stowed away to Hong Kong and New Zealand. Counsel for MBIE argued that the defendant's offending was more serious than in a number of authorities, due to his deceiving authorities for many years, bringing family members into the country and obtaining advantages by living in a free and safe democratic environment for many years. The defendant received a discount for pleading guilty and was sentenced to 29 months' imprisonment. Judgment Date: 12 February 2018