Fake citizenship on sale for $100
A Ma¯ ori activist vows to keep selling ‘‘citizenship’’ certificates, despite immigration bosses saying they are fraudulent and illegal.
Amato Akarana-Rewi said he was a Ma¯ori chieftain with the power to issue citizenship to people wishing to remain in New Zealand.
The 84-year-old charges $100 for the so-called citizenship papers, which Immigration NZ assistant general manager Peter Devoy said were ‘‘completely worthless’’ and ‘‘totally fraudulent’’.
‘‘Immigration NZ strongly urges anyone who has been duped into paying for these certificates to contact the New Zealand police,’’ Devoy said.
Many of Akarana-Rewi’s clients are Pacific overstayers who have exhausted all other legal options for remaining in New Zealand.
He conducts citizenship ceremonies at his home in O¯ tara but would not confirm how many people had purchased the certificates, saying only that it was ‘‘more than hundreds’’.
The elderly activist denied it was a revenue-generating scam.
He said the bulk of the money was spent on ‘‘documents, laminating, copying, and the bloody ink’’.
None of the documents are kept at the O¯ tara address – AkaranaRewi said he learnt his lesson after he was raided by police in 2011 and charged with immigration fraud.
He said he believed Ma¯ ori did not cede sovereignty to the British and were entitled to their own rule of law.
He insisted Ma¯ ori had a right to wha¯ ngai, or family adoptions, and were free to choose who they welcomed into their whanau, including Pacific overstayers.
Devoy said that was clearly not the case.
‘‘It needs to be reiterated that Immigration NZ is the sole agency with the lawful authority to issue visas allowing people to enter and remain in New Zealand,’’ Devoy said. ‘‘The Department of Internal Affairs is the sole agency with the lawful authority to grant citizenship in New Zealand.’’
Akarana-Rewi has a long history of thumbing his nose at the government. In 1998, as chairman of the Confederation of Chiefs of the United Tribes of Aotearoa, he said Ma¯ ori were not bound by fishing regulations.
In 2000, he was part of a group that wrote to 67 embassies and consulates warning them they had neither diplomatic protection nor immunity in New Zealand until they signed a treaty with the real ‘‘Government of Aotearoa’’.
He was selling supposed citizenship rights to people as long ago as 2000. On Monday, he said he would refuse to appear in court again unless he was paid an ‘‘appearance bond’’ of $50,000.