An Indian migrant and a former worker at the Automobile Association (AA) in Auckland has been sentenced after he admitted a representative charge of obtaining by deception.
Judge Anna Johns said Lovepreet Brar was recruited into a group of men who were taking bribes in exchange for licences in 2014, .
25-year-old Brar was accused of obtaining $56,000 in bribes in exchange for selling driver licences while working at the licencing authority.
Brar worked at the AA as a customer service consultant between 2014 and 2016 when he allegedly accepted over 150 bribes ranging from $400 to $2,500.
Brar is a Punjabi pop singer. In his recent music video 'Jail', he portrays a character who has a glamorous but violent lifestyle. The video has more than 4.3 million hits on Youtube.
It's alleged that Mr Brar was part of a group involved in taking bribes that included three driver testing officers. The group also allegedly offered heavy vehicle licences.
According to the court documents, the group favoured driving licence applicants who had paid bribes. If those applicants couldn’t be matched with testing officers who were part of the group, Radio New Zealand reported that they "asked uncorrupted officers to go easy on them".
Mr Brar is accused of retaining over $56,000 of bribes that he allegedly received in his bank account. Bribes received in cash were passed on to testing officers.
In 2016, police officers searched Mr Brar’s house and informed the Automotive Association about the alleged bribery scheme. He quit the job after the investigation began.
