Field wants job back if cleared

Taito Phillip Field

Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field has hinted he expects to be returned to a ministerial post if he is cleared by an inquiry investigating alleged conflicts of interest.

The report is due for release soon and Mr Field said yesterday he was convinced he would be vindicated.

Auckland QC Noel Ingram was appointed on September 21, four days after the general election, to inquire into allegations made during the campaign involving Thai overstayer Sunan Siriwan, who tiled Mr Field's house in Samoa while the Associate Minister for Pacific Affairs applied for an immigration permit for him to return to New Zealand.

The inquiry later extended to allegations that another Thai overstayer painted four houses for Mr Field in Auckland and a claim by a South Auckland family that he bought their house, which they risked losing in a mortgage sale, and sold it 16 months later at a profit of $136,000.

Under a cloud as a result, he lost his ministerial post after the election.

Dr Ingram's report was initially due on October 4.

Asked on Monday where it was, Prime Minister Helen Clark said: "Well, I answered a question in Parliament on that last week, and I think I indicated then that completion wasn't far away.

"Of course, as a matter of natural justice, a draft report should go to the persons concerned before it's finally concluded by the writer.

"I would certainly be expecting it in the course of this recess."

The recess begins the week after next.

The Herald contacted Mr Field after being told he had informed guests during a speech at a Mangere function last Thursday that the report would be out this week and that he had indicated he expected to be cleared.

"I just said well, I think we are a few weeks away from the final outcome of the report from the QC and I think I might have mentioned something in relation to false allegations, what the QC was looking at - false allegations," Mr Field recollected.

He said he had made the comments because people were asking him what was happening.

Mr Field denied he was privy to the contents of the report. But he said he was "absolutely" convinced he would be vindicated.

"As far as I'm concerned I haven't done anything wrong, I haven't broken any laws. And conflict of interest? I didn't make the final [immigration] decision; the final decision is made by the Minister of Immigration."

Asked if he expected his old job back if he was cleared, he said: "Well, ... people expect natural justice if they're cleared."

Citing natural justice, Helen Clark said this week that former minister David Parker might be reinstated to the Cabinet if the Companies Office did not charge him over false declarations he admitted making.

THE FIELD INQUIRY

* Taito Phillip Field is under investigation for asking a ministerial colleague to grant a work permit to a Thai overstayer who tiled his house in Samoa.
* A separate issue involves an Otahuhu house Mr Field bought from a family who risked losing it in a mortgagee sale. He sold it 16 months later for a $136,000 profit.

* The Prime Minister ordered an inquiry into the allegations last September and Mr Field was stripped of his portfolio of Associate Minister for Pacific Island Affairs.