KEY POINTS:
Taito Phillip Field's lawyer believes he can stop the case going to trial when police apply to the High Court to prosecute the MP on bribery charges.
Police announced yesterday they would seek High Court permission to prosecute Mr Field on 14 bribery charges.
The application, in effect
a depositions hearing to decide whether there is a case to answer, is at least a month away.
Mr Field's lawyer Satiu Simativa Perese said today 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.
"You'll find out in due course. I'm not going to start plotting the defence for Mr Field and the application that's to be made this morning."
Mr Field has been accused of giving immigration assistance to Thai overstayers who worked on his properties for little or no pay.
Mr Perese said he was a little surprised by the police wanting to lay 14 charges, "because I don't know what's behind that and what the evidence is behind that".
He said one charge would obviously relate to Thai tiler Sunan Siriwan -- who allegedly worked on Mr Field's house in Samoa in return for immigration help.
There had been "only three or four" other incidents relating to properties Mr Field owned in New Zealand, Mr Perese said.
"So I'm not sure how the police have got to 14."
He said he did not expect "lafo" -- a cultural practice of giving thanks that is similar to koha -- to be a feature of the case.
Prime Minister Helen Clark will today re-open the Labour Party's Mangere office while Mr Field, who formerly occupied it, prepares to defend himself against the bribery charges the police want to lay.
Mr Field yesterday vowed to fight the charges.
Last night Mr Field may have given a hint of how he will defend himself when a High Court judge hears the police application.
"There were language difficulties with those people... in terms of doing not major but simple painting and plastering jobs," he said in a TV3 interview.
"Most of them don't speak English at all. I don't speak Thai."
He said he had been very busy at the time because it was an election year.
"What I would have (done) differently was to ensure that perhaps the payments that I had made to them was documented, that in fact they presented the basis for payment," he said.
Under electoral law Mr Field can retain his seat -- he is now an independent -- unless he is convicted of an offence that carries a penalty of at least two years.
The 14 charges the police want to bring against him under Section 103 of the Crimes Act each carry a maximum sentence of seven years.
- NZPA
