A witness has told the Napier District Court that a Havelock North company director facing 11 charges under the Immigration Act gave him a job picking apples, despite knowing he couldn't legally work in New Zealand.
The Crown alleges that 54-year-old David Wang provided work illegally for one Indonesian man and seven Chinese men between 2003 and 2007, on orchards in Hawke's Bay and Marlborough.
Jun Luo says he came to New Zealand in January 2003 on a visitor's permit that lasted a week. He says he worked illegally in Wellington for six months, then went to Hastings where he met Mr Wang, who offered to find him work.
Every Friday, he says, he went to Mr Wang's office in Hastings, where he was paid cash in an envelope.
Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker told the jury on the trial's opening day, Monday, that it would hear evidence that Mr Wang provided apple-picking work for the eight men.
Mr Walker said that when Mr Wang took the workers on, they were either in New Zealand on visitor permits and were not legally entitled to work, or were in the country illegally.
The Department of Immigration first interviewed Mr Wang in October 2007 as part of an investigation targeting horticultural employers.
