A former restaurant business director has been sentenced after posing as an immigration adviser and deceiving an employee into paying thousands of dollars under the false promise of securing a resident visa.
According to a report by Tracy Neal of the New Zealand Herald, Halil Anil Akbaba misled a foreign worker, who believed his payments were being used to process his residency application. Instead, police said the money was diverted through a business account, transferred into a TAB betting account, and then returned to conceal its origin.
The deception came to light when the real immigration adviser, whose identity had been used in a fake email account, happened to visit the restaurant and spoke with the worker. “That’s when she learned someone had been using her name to communicate with him,” Judge Jo Rielly said, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Akbaba was sentenced in the Nelson District Court after pleading guilty to charges of obtaining by deception and engaging in money laundering transactions. His request for a discharge without conviction was declined.
Judge Rielly strongly criticised his actions, particularly the exploitation of a vulnerable worker. “Your actions exploited his [the worker’s] vulnerability in circumstances where he had no social support,” she said. She further described the offending as “concerning offending behaviour” that “struck at the heart” of New Zealand’s immigration process and trust in the system, the New Zealand Herald has reported.
The victim, a Turkish national, had been working at restaurants owned by Akbaba and his cousin in Richmond and Blenheim. In 2022, Akbaba created a fake email account impersonating a licensed immigration adviser and convinced the worker to transfer money to “expedite the process” of his visa application.
Over several months, the worker paid a total of $4809 in eight instalments. However, no immigration services were ever provided.
According to a report by the New Zealand Herald, Defence lawyer Steven Zindel argued that the case was not as serious as it appeared, stating it was simply a “transfer of funds” rather than organised money laundering, and noted that some of the money had been repaid. “In short, the defendant did something that was odd for him, with no previous [criminal] history and as someone with good community support,” Zindel said.
However, the court rejected this reasoning. Judge Rielly said Akbaba’s claims that he intended to help the victim were not credible. “None of that makes any sense to the court, whatsoever,” she said, the New Zealand Herald has reported.
She also noted that his apology letters focused more on himself than the victims, who declined to engage in restorative justice.
According to the New Zealand Herald, highlighting the seriousness of impersonating a professional adviser, the judge described the situation as a “concerning irony,” particularly given Akbaba’s stated interest in working in the financial sector and assisting the expatriate Turkish community.
While acknowledging that a conviction could affect his future employment, the court emphasised the importance of public accountability.
Akbaba was sentenced to six months’ community detention and 100 hours of community work, along with an order to pay the remaining balance of a $10,000 reparation offer to the victim, the New Zealand Herald has reported.