Muktsar man accused in ‘cash-for-licences’ scam produced in Auckland court
By Gurbir Singh, Hamilton (New Zealand ), May 13, 2017 :
New Zealand has been successively rated as the “world’s least corrupt country’ in the world where graft money never changes hands, but its integrity appears to have been temporarily tarnished by some immigrants for the alleged ‘Cash-for-licences’ scam.
In what is otherwise a very robust driver licensing system, bribery and corruption allegations involving driver licencing agents surfaced last year, involving their employees.
Following a year long investigations by multiple agencies, three men,Lovepreet Brar, Vinesh Kumar and Mohammed Feroz were arrested and produced in the Manukau District Court on 8th May,2017 for allegedly ‘obtaining by deception’, alleged fraud charges and fake driver licence scam.
In the court, it was alleged that the three accused made tens of thousands of dollars by issuing New Zealand licences based on invalid or fraudulent international documents and local and foreign applicants were helped to by-pass testing.
Main accused, Lovepreet Brar (said to be originally from Mukatsar, Panjab) has also been charged in ‘connection with180 transactions’, and charges go back to the year 2014.
All three accused have, however, denied the allegations and Brar denies any involvement either. They chose not to say anything to the waiting reporters outside the court.
They have been remanded on bail and will reappear in Manukau District Court later this month.
Brar first engaged top criminal defence lawyer, Peter Tomlinson to represent him, but has changed lawyers after appearing in court.
Both Brar and Kumar are originally from India, but more is not known about Mohamed Feroz, but he is rumoured to be from Fiji.
The arrests were the result of investigations started in 2016 by state-owned television channel, 1NEWS after receiving a tip that foreign drivers were paying hundreds of dollars to obtain a driving licence, that otherwise may take up to two years through the normal process.
Originally, the finger was pointed out at the main accused, Lovepreet Brar working at that time as Booking Officer at the Automobile Association’s(AA) Meadowlands Centre in East Auckland allegedly offering car and heavy truck licences for sales from $500 to $5000.
Television channel’s investigations were later expanded to the Vehicle Testing NZ(VTNZ) - the agency that conducts driving tests where the other two co-accused, Vinesh Kumar and Mohammed Feroz tested drivers.
Brar is alleged to have teamed up with these two to sell bogus licences and reports suggest that car licences were sold for $500 and heavy duty truck licences for a price ranging between $3500 and $5000.
According to the AA, one aspect of the scam was to present a false overseas licence to get a New Zealand one. For example, someone coming to NZ from India to work or live, will “take a photocopy of a genuine Indian license, doctor it up, insert a photo of the person who is paying for it, laminate it, and scuff it up a bit” and then present it as a real Indian driving licence. As per the process at that time, AA would contact the New Zealand Transport Authority(NZTA) over phone, who in turn will ask AA if the licence was genuine. The AA’s reply would be ”sure looks like it to me.” This enabled the dodgy holder of this fake licence get a new NZ licence.
The findings of the enquiry against Brar, also resulted in sacking of a female employee in Auckland for being involved in the sale of fake driving licences, but no other details were released or known if a case was registered.
After the allegations came to light, Brar was suspended by his employer and on 15th March 2016, police issued a border alert on his passport to stop his escape from New Zealand.
Police were concerned that heavy truck licences were also sold and between 750 and 1000 fake driving licences were believed to be in the hands of car and truck drivers risking everyone’s life on the roads. The holder of a heavy duty licence can legally drive trucks, trailers, buses, and heavy forklifts.
25-year old Brar arrived in New Zealand from India in 2010 to studyDiploma in Business Management from the ICL Business School, Auckland, and thereafter has continued living and working in Auckland.
In 2015, he is said to have bought a house in Auckland that has "Brar Brothers" sign on the garage and "Brar" on the letterbox outside. His car also bears his name number plate.
On his public Facebook page, Brar was proudly pictured firing a shotgun, and leaning on a Royal Enfield motorbike.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Brar started working for AA as a Customer Sales Consultant in May 2014 and before that he worked for GE, Layaway Depot, Digital Mobile and Salmat.
Since the unearthing of the scam, the AA has changed it processes for international licencing applicants from non-exempt countries. An extra layer has been added to cross check and the applicants will go through the regular test processes.
- Gurbir Singh is a New Zealand-based freelance feature writer & journalist. He can be contacted at : gurbir@journalist.com