Daryl Maguire, 67, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to create false and misleading visa applications for 10 Chinese nationals purporting to employ them at businesses in Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina region.
"It's a bit odd that they're paying me cash, what is going on here?" one of the business owners asked him in early 2015.
"I don't want to know about it," the then state Liberal MP for Wagga Wagga allegedly said.
Maguire fronted a jury trial at Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday where this conversation and many other details of the claimed visa fraud conspiracy from January 2013 to August 2015 were spelled out.
Prosecutor Sean Flood SC said the 67-year-old conspired with his associate Maggie Wang - also known as Maggie Logan - to bring 10 Chinese nationals unlawfully into the country.
Maguire identified businesses which could act as purported visa sponsors before introducing them to Wang, the court heard.
The Chinese nationals applied for their visas through the employer-nominated sponsorship scheme or the regional sponsor migration scheme, both of which could eventually lead to permanent residency, Mr Flood said.
Wang and migration agent Monica Hao filled out 20 false or misleading visa applications for 10 Chinese nationals and sent them onto the Department of Immigration.
The forms stated the applicants would work for two years at certain local firms - including a real estate agent, vineyard, accountant and furniture store - and be paid a wage by the business.
But this was not the case, Mr Flood said.
Instead, the Chinese nationals often did not work at the firms at all.
Some of them were still paid wages and superannuation which was reimbursed in cash by Wang, the jury heard.
Wang would pay business owners $30,000 to $60,000 stuffed into envelopes for their part in the scheme, Mr Flood said.
After a meeting at Sydney Airport in May 2013, the owner of the Wagga Wagga RSL club decided not to partake in the visa proposal after a potential Chinese applicant could not say exactly where he was from in the country.
The business owner was encouraged to lie to immigration officials if they turned up asking where the worker was, the jury was told.
Two of the proposed visa applicants were students looking to stay in Australia for longer, Mr Flood said.
One wanted to relocate himself and his family.
Maguire's barrister Ian McLachlan will give opening submissions when the trial resumes on Thursday.
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