The High Court has today cleared the way for the next step in the case against independent MP Taito Phillip Field to be heard.
A preliminary hearing was held last month to decide whether Mr Field should be prosecuted on 14 bribery and corruption-related offences.
The hearing was
effectively a depositions hearing to decide whether there was a case to answer, and was held in the High Court at Auckland.
It needed to be satisfied there was a case to answer before charges could be laid.
Chief High Court Judge Tony Randerson today said in a decision today that the court was essentially involved in a screening or filtering process.
No charge had been laid.
The committal stage and any subsequent trial were yet to come if leave to file charges was granted.
A tentative date to consider the application for leave had been made for Thursday, July 26.
Mr Field has been facing allegations that he gave immigration help to Asian overstayers in return for cheap labour. Each offence carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years' jail.
Mr Field's lawyer, Satiu Simativa Perese, had previously said he believed he could stop the case going to trial by "successfully" defending the application.
He would not reveal how he was going to do that but The Dominion Post had said at the time that one argument would focus on the fact nearly two years had elapsed since the allegations were raised.
When Mr Field went to court last month he again proclaimed his innocence and said he had nothing to hide.
Allegations against Mr Field were the subject of a nine-month inquiry by Noel Ingram QC, who found the MP guilty of errors of judgment but found he did not have a conflict of interest as he was not a minister at the time.
Mr Field is an independent MP after quitting Labour when it began moves to expel him after he suggested he might campaign at the next election as an independent.
- NZPA
