Crown alleges 'greedy' Faroz Ali trafficked desperate Fijians on promise of high wages

More than a dozen Fijian nationals were lured to New Zealand under false promises of high wages but were forced to work for little or no money, the Crown alleges. 

Faroz Ali, sometimes spelled Feroz Ali, 46, has denied 15 counts of trafficking people to New Zealand and 16 counts of aiding and abetting people to enter or remain in the country unlawfully. 

His trial began on Monday in the High Court at Auckland.

It's just the second time a human trafficking case has reached trial in New Zealand. 

READ MORE: Fijian man charged with people trafficking to New Zealand

On Monday afternoon Crown prosecutor Luke Clancy told the court that Ali had scammed 15 Fijian nationals and had "deliberately and repeatedly flouted the law". 

The court heard that Ali's wife and sister-in-law both lived in Suva, Fiji, running travel agencies in the capital and advertising New Zealand working holiday schemes. 

"The purpose was to recruit illegal workers to be brought to New Zealand and used either by Mr Ali himself or his associate," Clancy said. 

The advertisements promised approved applicants the chance to work in New Zealand for wages of $17 per hour.

They were also promised working visas and accommodation. 

"The opportunity they believed they were being offered really was quite a fantastic one," Clancy told jurors. 

"This was a chance to come to New Zealand, work, earn money, and take that money back to Fiji for their family and their friends."

In return the agencies charged the workers hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars, Clancy said. 

When the Fijians arrived in New Zealand, throughout 2014 and 2015, they found the work was different to what they had expected. They were made to work in Ali's gib-fixing business in Papatoetoe, or were sent to Tauranga to work in orchards. 

The workers were paid little - if they were paid at all - and were housed in crowded conditions which they were made to pay for, the court heard. 

The working visas they were promised were non-existent and the workers were given visitors' visas which had no provisions for work. 

"The Crown says [Ali] knew they had been deceived about what to expect when they got here. He did that quite simply out of greed," Clancy said. 

"Most workers who were hooked into this scam were poor people living in difficult circumstances ... Instead of having this opportunity to work and make money [and] provide for their futures, they were exploited, left with nothing and had to return to Fiji ashamed ... that they had been misled, deceived and ripped off."

The first group of Fijians to arrive in New Zealand were sent to the Bay of Plenty to work almost immediately but after a week of working there one witness, described as "not easily trifled with" by Clancy, began asking for her wages. 

Ali's associate, who was managing the workers in Tauranga, was said to have claimed the workers in fact owed him money for food, accommodation and the cost of travel to and from work. 

In the meantime Ali knew the workers were toiling illegally, and encouraged them to renew their visitors' visas when they expired, the Crown alleged. 

Earlier on Monday, after the jury was selected, Ali admitted 18 charges of underpaying workers, and eight charges of aiding and abetting workers to breach the conditions of their visa. 

The trial, set before Justice Paul Heath, is set to last six weeks.

All of the 15 Fijian workers will give evidence, as well as another worker who was an illegal overstayer. 

In a short opening address Ali's lawyer Peter Broad said the defence's central issue would be the state of Ali's mind at the time, and the fact he wasn't in Fiji when the promises were made to the workers.