Nurul Noor Azman. Photo: RNZ / Lucy Xia
An interpreter spun a "web of lies" to cheat the immigration system through fabricating a series of asylum claims, a court has been told.
Nurul Noor Azman has pleaded not guilty to five charges of supplying information to a refugee status officer knowing it was false or misleading.
Crown lawyer Jaspreet Bola told the jury Noor Azman charged the complainants - who were migrants - hundreds of dollars each to submit false asylum claims.
Noor Azman lived with the complainants in Tauranga and worked for a law firm.
Bola said none of the claims were true, and that Noor Azman was the one making them up.
WhatsApp messages would be among the evidence, Bola said.
"She [Noor Azman] was the inventor of these false stories which she prepared in exchange for money, knowing they were being used for the refugee claims."
New Zealand's refugee quota was limited and that the system relied on the honesty of the applications, Bola said
She said the alleged behaviour undermined the integrity of the refugee system and could jeopardise genuine claims of people who were facing risks of death and torture in their home countries.
An Indonesian man who claimed asylum after coming to New Zealand on a tourist visa, told the court through Bahasa language interpreter that Noor Azman wrote his application.
Kadek Suwardika told the court he was working at an orchard in Tauranga and living in a house with more than 10 other migrants, including Noor Azman.
He said he copied a story written by Noor Azman to claim asylum, and that he had paid for this.
It was about "borrowing money and paying it off", he said.
Judge June Jelas told the jury the five complainants accepted their asylum claims were false, and the issue was what involvement Noor Azman had in those claims.
Meanwhile, defence lawyer Jolene Reddy argued that Noor Azman worked as an interpreter and that she did not intend for any information to be provided to Immigration New Zealand officials.
The trial is expected to last five days.