baker sells bread during the Mistura gastronomic fair in Lima, September 5, 2014. The fair seeks to promote Peruvian cuisine by showcasing food and products from all over the country. Exponents of Peruvian cuisine and foreign chefs are also participating
In PHOTO: Baker sells bread during the Mistura gastronomic fair in Lima, September 5, 2014. The fair seeks to promote Peruvian cuisine by showcasing food and products from all over the country. Exponents of Peruvian cuisine and foreign chefs are also participating in the fair, which runs from September 4 to 14. Reuters/Stringer

A Chinese woman running an immigration agency in New Zealand has been sentenced by a local court. She has been ordered to pay reparation and undergo home detention and community work for her involvement in an immigration scam. Jinyan Zhang, alias Jenny Zhang, was the director of a Wellington immigration agency. She along with her husband, Ming Young, masterminded a scam that led to the exploitation of many migrant Chinese workers.

Ancheng International Group was run by the couple and it applied for visas for Chinese chefs, who paid her agency big amounts to complete the visa formalities and for finding them jobs in New Zealand, reported TV. Nz. The Wellington District Court sentenced Jenny Zhang to 10 months' home detention, 300 hours of community work and asked her to pay a total of $30,000 reparation to six of the victims.

Organised Scam

The Chinese woman has been pleaded guilty on seven charges, including aiding and abetting Chinese nationals to breach visa conditions and obstructing the course of justice relating to four victims. She also supplied false or misleading information to Immigration New Zealand. Ming Young, her husband admitted that he fed false information to INZ. He will be sentenced on December 10. Restauranteurs Jimmy Cheung and Humphrey Man are awaiting the court sentence on various charges. Another director Yao Wen Jiang, was fined $20,100 for exploitation of migrants under the breach of Minimum Wage Act 1983.

Chefs Duped

On arrival in New Zealand, the chefs faced untold misery. They were paid less than what was promised as minimum wage and went into poor working conditions that contravened their visa entitlements. Judge Ian Mill noted that the Chinese chefs paid Zhang's company $24,000 each to obtain a New Zealand visa and employment but they were cheated as the jobs did not exist

The INZ investigator Kerri Fergusson said the judge has sent a strong message to all employers that exploitation of migrant workers will not be tolerated, even if they have entered unlawfully in New Zealand and were underpaid, reported Radio New Zealand. The court had described the behaviour of the directors of the immigration agency as "reprehensible". It also canceled the licence of Jenny Zhang. The judge said, "Although not all the ill treatment of workers lies at your feet, you were the instrument that allowed it to happen."