By Patrick Gower
The Prime Minister says New Zealand citizenship could be stripped from a mysterious Chinese millionaire who obtained a New Zealand passport despite multiple identities.
But it would require the use of special discretionary powers.
Everyone knows that "Yong Ming Yan" or "Bill Liu" isn't who he says he is.
It's now an open secret he uses a variety of different names, identities and aliases, including to obtain a New Zealand passport, and he was helped by his friends in the Labour Party.
Despite this, he still remains a New Zealand citizen. So the question is: does this damage the integrity of the Kiwi passport?
“That's probably the reason why this matter is now before the Auditor General and clearly Shane Jones has got some big questions to answer,” says Prime Minister John Key.
He's originally Yong Ming Yan, a Chinese citizen, but went by Bill Liu and Yang Liu to get New Zealand citizenship and a passport.
Four days later, he then changed that to William Yan and got a new New Zealand passport issued under that name.
“Overall I think most New Zealanders would have a high degree of confidence in the process for granting citizenship,” says Mr Key.
Even though Mr Yan was found not guilty on charges of immigration fraud, the judge found his actions "highly suspicious".
But the Government still has the discretion to act.
The Minister of Internal Affairs can deprive or revoke citizenship if "satisfied" it was obtained by fraud, false representation or wilful concealment of relevant information.
“It's possible,” says Mr Key. “But of course the Minister would have to satisfy himself that those test are there. In other words, that the information was wilfully concealed, for instance.”
The Auditor General is currently investigating the process around how Mr Liu or Mr Yan got such special treatment. That inquiry is understood to be just a month or two away and Mr Yan's friends in the Labour Party who helped him are nervously awaiting the results.
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