The head of a Wagga electrical supplies company has told a corruption hearing he felt "pestered" to host Chinese workers under a visa scheme allegedly run by associates of former MP Daryl Maguire.
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Great Southern Electrical managing director Shaun Duffy told the Independent Commission Against Corruption he was paid $50,000 by immigration agent Maggie Wang to provide work which a Chinese national would use as part of their visa application.
In his witness testimony on Thursday, Mr Duffy admitted he was paid for providing a training contract for visa applicant Shuanghui Zong, who he never met.
Mr Duffy said he received a "pretty intimidating" $48,000 cash payment from Ms Wang for signing a "training agreement" which would help advance Ms Zong's visa application.
"She had a big jacket on, and every spare pocket she had, she'd pull out cash," Mr Duffy said
Mr Duffy told the hearing he was introduced to Maggie Wang in 2012 by Mr Maguire at a Parliament House function.
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ICAC has previously heard testimony that Ms Wang was a "specialist immigration agent" who worked with G8wayinternational, a company which Mr Maguire was allegedly involved with.
Mr Maguire is the subject of an ICAC inquiry over allegations he misused his parliamentary office for personal financial gain.
Mr Duffy said he felt "quite uncomfortable" about accepting the cash and asked Ms Wang to take it back, to which he claimed she said "I can't take it back ... it's got nowhere to go".
When asked if the arrangement had been "probably illegal", Mr Duffy replied, "Perhaps".
The commission heard Mr Duffy had already employed a Chinese national, Susan Song, to work at his company D&M Electrical.
Mr Duffy said he met Ms Song's father on one of his 2011 trips to China with Mr Maguire, of which he said "we had no idea what was going on" and that he thought Mr Maguire was travelling in his role as a Member of Parliament.
Mr Duffy said he was reimbursed for the wages he paid Ms Song and there was a "spoken agreement" he would be paid to "employ her for as long as it takes to get visa". The commission also heard Mr Duffy was asked to employ another visa applicant whose placement "didn't end up going ahead" and whose visa was never granted.
When asked yesterday if he accepted he was involved in an immigration scam, Mr Duffy replied, "Yes". He said it became "quite obvious," but he continued to participate because he was still interested in hiring someone who could speak Chinese.