18707 (2026). Tangi Utikere to the Minister of Transport

18707 (2026). Tangi Utikere to the Minister of Transport: Further to Replies 11428, 11430, and 13378 (2026), why did 17 further fraudulent conversions involving individuals whose country of primary identification was a non-exempt country presenting a licence from an exempt country occur between the amendment of the Certificate of Particulars control on 16 April 2025 and the closure of the vulnerability on 31 October 2025, as the amended control is stated to have applied to that category of applicant?

Hon Chris Bishop: All applicants for the 17 fraudulent conversions that occurred after 1 February 2025 provided NZTA with a Certificate of Particulars (CoP). It was these documents that were found to be fraudulent or falsified. The fraudulent or falsified CoP enabled the applicant to obtain a higher class of New Zealand licence than they were entitled to. Therefore, NZTA closed the vulnerability by requiring applications for conversions of UAE licences above a Class 2 to be referred to NZTA before being processed.