A Fijian man has been found guilty of human trafficking in New Zealand - the first conviction for the crime in the country’s history.
Faroz Ali was convicted of 15 charges of human trafficking in the Auckland high court after a three-week trial. His sentence could range from a NZ$500,000 fine to 20 years in prison, or both.
Ali was found guilty of luring 15 Fijian nationals – men and women – to New Zealand on the promise of manual labour work and NZ$900 a week in wages, Radio New Zealand reported.
Relatives of Ali’s in Fiji helped recruit the workers by taking out full-page adds in the Fiji Sun newspaper, advertising the jobs and supposedly generous conditions, NZME reported.
The Fijians borrowed thousands of dollars from their villages and sold off assets to raise the funds for travel and visa costs, which they paid to Ali’s relatives.
The workers believed they would be paid so well in New Zealand they would soon be able to pay off their debts, and earn far more than they could have in their home country.
“It was a rip off, man. It was a lie,” one of the witnesses testified at the trial, NZME reported. “We were made fools. All of us,” another said.
When they arrived Ali made them sleep on the bare floor of his Auckland home in the middle of winter, and forced them to work long hours on a kiwi fruit orchard and construction site for little to no pay.
He also deducted money he was supposedly owed from the small amount the Fijians were paid.
“Most workers who were hooked into this scam were poor people living in difficult circumstances ...” Fairfax Media reported crown prosecutor Luke Clancy saying during the trial.
“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.”
Ali is due to be sentenced in October.
