Former immigration boss Thompson in court

Former Immigration Service boss Mary Anne Thompson was remanded for a pre-depositions hearing when she appeared before a registrar at Wellington District Court today.

Thompson faces fraud and dishonesty charges relating to claims she lied on her CV when she applied for senior public service jobs.

She faces two charges of using a document with intent to defraud and one charge of dishonestly attempting to use a document without claims of right.

She was remanded to reappear on April 22.

Thompson last year resigned from the senior position in the Labour Department after being accused of a conflict of interest for helping family members gain residency in New Zealand.

It was also alleged that she did not have a doctorate from the London School of Economics that many people many believed she had.

The charges relate to separate incidents in 1989, 1998 and 2004 when Thompson applied for different public service jobs.

She worked as an economist with Maori Affairs in 1990. In the Treasury in 1992 and in 1998 was appointed to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, under Jenny Shipley.

In 2004, she took up the Immigration New Zealand position.

- NZPA