Dover Samuels down, but not out

ALISON HORWOOD spells out the twists and turns in the spiralling fortunes of the Te Tai Tokerau MP and sacked Maori Affairs Minister.


November 27, 1999: Dover Samuels, formerly a list MP, wins Te Tai Tokerau seat.

December 3: Named to the cabinet.

December 9: Maori Affairs Minister, but flanked by three associate ministers.

Late December: Beverly Rako learns of a relationship Mr Samuels had with her daughter in the mid-1980s, when the girl was a teenager. She became pregnant and had an abortion, but did not want to go public or tell the police.

However, Mrs Rako decided to act in what she saw as her daughter's best interests. "I thought the best thing to do was confront Dover, and I wanted him to be accountable for what he had done."

January 13, 2000: Labour's junior whip, Chris Carter, met Mrs Rako, who told him she had information that could bring the Government down and destroy Mr Samuels' career.

Prime Minister Helen Clark receives assurances that there is nothing to the allegations.

February 6: Mrs Rako meets Mr Samuels at Waitangi Day celebrations to discuss payment to her daughter. Mr Samuels later says he was the victim of an extortion bid. Diplomatic protection police investigate and take no action.

Late March: Whangarei sexual abuse centre contacts Mr Carter's office, saying Mrs Rako has made serious allegations about Mr Samuels.

May 26: The Prime Minister describes herself as de facto Minister of Maori Affairs.

May/June: Mrs Rako approaches Health Minister Annette King's electoral office, repeating allegations against Mr Samuels.

June 16: Mrs Rako sends fax containing the allegations to Prime Minister's office.

June 17: Act leader Richard Prebble is approached with the allegations.

June 19: The Prime Minister holds late-night meetings with Attorney-General Margaret Wilson and others after Mr Samuels receives a call from the Holmes TV show about the allegations.

Mr Samuels is told Mr Prebble knows of the allegations.

June 20: Mr Prebble delivers letter to Helen Clark demanding she establish a judicial inquiry. Letters also sent to Police Minister George Hawkins and Ms Wilson.

Mr Prebble says he had no intentions of making the contents public.

June 21: Mr Samuels stands aside as a minister and police begin a criminal investigation.

Helen Clark says she first heard the allegations in January but was told the informant was not credible. She confronted Mr Samuels and accepted his word that there was no truth to the allegations. She says Mr Samuels will be returned to his Maori Affairs job if no criminal charges are laid against him.

Mr Samuels says that if he is cleared, he expects Mr Prebble to resign.

In a personal statement to MPs, he says: "I wish to make it clear to this House categorically that I absolutely deny and refute the very serious allegations in this letter - allegations that should have been made to the police."

He denies any wrongdoing, saying if he is found to be guilty by a court process he will resign his seat in Parliament.

After he stands down, Labour Party president Bob Harvey telephones Ross Dallow, a Waitakere City councillor and ex-police officer, to ask him to confirm what he had told him earlier about once arresting Mr Samuels.

He confirms the arrest.

June 23: Further messages left with Labour MPs about Mr Samuels' past, including one from a West Auckland man who left information with Mr Carter and Mr Harvey that he spent time in jail with Mr Samuels.

June 24: Police interview woman at the centre of allegations.

June 25: Labour's senior whip, Rick Barker, and Mr Harvey ask Mr Samuels if he has ever been jailed. They both report that Mr Samuels said he had not.

June 26: Helen Clark begins changing her position on reinstating Mr Samuels if he is cleared, and asks whether he can be an effective minister.

June 27: Helen Clark admits she received a letter with the allegations five days before Mr Prebble wrote to her. She summons Mr Samuels to the Beehive for a crisis meeting.

June 28: The Herald prints allegations of domestic violence and discloses convictions for assault and an incident where Mr Samuels threatened to shoot a family member.

Mr Samuels refuses to deny or confirm these.

The Prime Minister sacks Mr Samuels, saying he cannot be effective while "allegations, controversy and public debate swirl around him."

July 23: Mr Samuels confirms that complaints against him included four allegations of rape. He labels the accusations a fabrication.

July 24: Mr Samuels accuses Helen Clark's staff of "being the sewage channel" and of spreading the news that he was being investigated for rape.

Mr Harvey writes to Mr Samuels to tell him his party membership could be in jeopardy if he makes further attacks on the leader.

July 25: Mr Samuels uses parliamentary privilege to name the woman, now aged 31.

Helen Clark says she is "concerned" that he has identified her, and the woman's family say she is "distraught" she has been named.

Mr Samuels is replaced as Maori Affairs Minister by Parekura Horomia

July 27: Mr Samuels admits he has five criminal convictions.They are:

August, 1960: theft, three months' imprisonment.

September, 1960: selling liquor without a licence, three weeks' jail.

April 3, 1984: assault, fined $250.

February 13, 1987: exceeding 30km/h speed limit, fined $120.

March, 1988: operating a vehicle carelessly, fined $250.

Mr Samuels' lawyer, Peter Williams, QC, speaks out after Helen Clark admits that in sacking the minister she also took into account a quashed conviction for a butcher's shop robbery in 1961.

August 2: Mr Samuels requests a copy of his police record from Australia, where he lived in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He says he understands it includes parking and speeding "misdemeanours," but when asked if it contains anything more serious, says he cannot recall.

August 8: Helen Clark says she will not reinstate Mr Samuels, although the first part of a police inquiry has cleared him of under-age sex allegations and police have decided not to take rape charges further unless fresh evidence comes to hand.

Inquiry continues into whether he had sex with a teenage girl in his care and protection.

Mr Samuels, flanked by Mr Williams and fellow Labour Maori MP Joe Hawke, calls a press conference to again deny any wrongdoing.

August 12: National Party leader Jenny Shipley says under parliamentary privilege that Helen Clark rang Mr Harvey and "asked him to get dirt on Dover Samuels" to get rid of him.

August 14: Helen Clark says she stands by her decision that Mr Samuels could not be effective as a minister.

"Maori are looking for leadership to combat high rates of teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, assault, and crime generally. It was obvious to me that Mr Samuels could not give that leadership, not only because of his past, but because of his refusal to be direct with his party about it."

She says she and the public have had a "gutsful" and politicians need to get on with more serious work.