Faroz Ali was found guilty for multiple charges of human trafficking and exploitation.

A person has been found guilty of trafficking people into New Zealand - the first such convictions in the country's history.

Faroz Ali, 46, has been found guilty in the High Court at Auckland of 15 counts of trafficking Fijians to New Zealand.

He was also found guilty on 16 counts of aiding and abetting people to enter or remain in the country unlawfully.

He earlier pleaded guilty to charges of exploitation, including failing to pay workers minimum wage or holiday pay, as well as aiding and abetting workers to breach the conditions of their visas.

READ MORE:

* Fijian woman details cramped, cold conditions she allegedly paid thousands for

* Trafficking attempt to send 100 Tamil refugees to New Zealand by ferry thwarted

* Brothers found not guilty of New Zealand's first human trafficking charges

* Human trafficking, exploitation 'rife' in New Zealand

Ali will be sentenced on October 18.

The jury's verdict was deemed a historical moment by New Zealand by chief executive of Stand Against Slavery Peter Mihaere.

"It's the right verdict and I think it's a clear warning to potential traffickers that we will not tolerate trafficking here."

​The court had heard how Ali lured Fijians to New Zealand with false promises of high wages and working visas.

Crown prosecutor Luke Clancy had told the court that Ali's wife and sister-in-law ran travel agencies in Suva, Fiji, that recruited illegal workers to be brought to New Zealand and used by either by Ali himself, or his associate.

"This was a chance to come to New Zealand, work, earn money, and take that money back to Fiji for their family and their friends," he said.

In return the agencies charged takers hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars, Clancy said.

What the Fijians were promised were working visas, wages of $17 per hour, and free accommodation.

But in reality the they got paid little to nothing and were only granted visitors' visas with no provision for work, the court heard.

One of Ali's victims told the court that she was forced to lie about visiting non-existent friends and families in New Zealand to avoid detection at the border.

She said she then had to share a room with three others in the middle of winter, and was given neither blankets nor a mattress.

Clancy said Ali "knew they had been deceived about what to expect when they got here" and that he had "deliberately and repeatedly flouted the law."

"He did that all quite simply out of greed."

"Most workers who were hooked into this scam were poor people living in difficult circumstances ... Instead of having this opportunity to work and make money [and] provide for their futures, they were exploited, left with nothing and had to return to Fiji ashamed ... that they had been misled, deceived and ripped off."