Immigration minister accused of Field 'cover-up'

Former Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor took no steps to investigate claims that Labour MP Taito Phillip Field was improperly employing a Thai tiler and failed to alert Labour leaders to the allegations.

Mr O'Connor, accused of a "cover-up" in Parliament yesterday, last June granted a special direction for a two-year work permit for Sunan Siriwan, after a request from Mr Field.

At the time the request was granted, Immigration officials in Samoa and New Zealand were aware Mr Siriwan was allegedly working for Mr Field in Apia, and of claims he was doing it for free in exchange for immigration help.

Dr Noel Ingram's report on Mr Field said a Labour Department official had alerted Mr O'Connor's private secretary, Nicola Scotland, to the claims before Mr O'Connor approved the work permit direction, but she said she could not remember the call.

Dr Ingram concluded there was "real uncertainty" as to when Mr O'Connor knew about the claims - before or after approving the work permit.

National MP Lockwood Smith asked in Parliament yesterday how it was possible that the head of the Apia branch of the NZ Immigration Service, James Dalmer, had a file note saying Mr O'Connor knew of the claims before he approved the direction.

He asked whether the minister's office was "involved in a cover-up?"

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said "no such implication of foreknowledge was drawn" by Dr Ingram".

Dr Ingram's report postulated a "possible sequence of events" in which Ms Scotland got the call but did not inform Mr O'Connor because of the "unconfirmed nature of the intelligence" before he signed off the work permit. Under that scenario it was likely Ms Scotland told Mr O'Connor soon afterwards, as a result of another phone call about the allegations, Dr Ingram concluded.

Mr O'Connor maintained he did not know about the claims before approving the direction, but admitted yesterday that "in hindsight" he should have handled the situation better when he did find out.

He said it was a "fairly serious claim" but he did not raise the allegations with Mr Field when he found out and did not think it necessary to alert senior Government or Labour figures to the alleged conflict of interest.

He took no action to revoke the direction once told of the allegations and placed no "red alert" on Mr Siriwan's application-processing file.

He did not believe the allegations and was instead relying on the Immigration Service "processes" involved in dealing with Mr Siriwan's application to resolve any issues.

"I guess I relied on the process, and I guess staying at arm's length ... it was a fairly serious claim and one [which] in my view relied on a systems assessment to better judge than perhaps just a chat with Taito."

Mr O'Connor was unable to say exactly what questions on the forms would have addressed the issue of whether Mr Siriwan was working for Mr Field when the direction was sought. But he was "fairly confident" the issue would have been covered.

Mr O'Connor said that "in hindsight" it may have been better to place a "red alert" on the file or to have simply revoked the direction as soon as he was told of the claims.