An alleged immigration fraud was believed to have wrought havoc the Tongan communities in Auckland for years, a complaint lodged with Immigration Advisors Authority has claimed.
The woman who is in the middle of the complaint is Halaevalu Faleafā Finefeuiaki. She claimed she worked for the Immigration New Zealand.
Finefeuiakiʻs Linkedin profile matched her employment claim. It says, Finefeuiaki was a student at the University of Auckland and she works for the Immigration New Zealand. Kaniva however checked her Linkedin account this evening and it has been taken down.
Immigration New Zealand denied that it employed Finefeuiaki.
The alleged fraud surfaced after one of the Tongan immigration consultants in New Zealand, Tufui Fonua Kama complaint to IAA and INZ.
Kama’s complaint says she obtained information that Finefeuiaki advertised through words of mouth in her church community that she was “one of my staff”.
Kama denied to Kaniva News Finefeuiaki’s claim that she worked for her and she did not know her by any means.
Finefeuiaki did not return Kaniva's message.
A female victim, Kalesita To’a has come forward and declared she was defrauded by Finefeuiaki.
Toʻa told Kaniva News she met Finefeuiaki at her Epsom church community in Auckland. Finefeuiaki told her that she worked for Immigration New Zealand.
At one point, Finefeuiaki told To’a, who has just visited New Zealand from Tonga that she can apply to obtain her a permanent resident permit.
To’a paid her about $400 and gave Finefeuiaki her passport.
To’a found out later from her church community that Finefeuiaki was not working for Immigration New Zealand. She managed to claim her passport but could not retrieve all her money.
Kama told Kaniva News that according to information she gathered from her clients who were victims of Finefeuiaki, the immigration swindle has been around the Tongan community for years but was never reported.
She said there were also Tongans in Tonga who fell victims to Finefeuiaki’s unscrupulous activity.
These people had been duped into giving Finefeuiaki money and koloa faka-Tonga after she promised she would secure them New Zealand immigration visas and permits, Kama said.
Kaniva News contacted IAA regarding Finefuiaki but Maheesha Kottegoda said, “We do not provide information on investigations”.
