Judge: Former MP exploited Thais

Phillip Field shows emotion at the High Court yesterday. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Disgraced former MP Taito Phillip Field was told he cynically exploited Thai immigrants to further his own interests.

When Field accepted free labour from grateful Thai tradespeople he was at the top of a slippery slope because he knew they would not charge him for the labour, Justice Rodney Hansen said at Field's sentencing at the High Court at Auckland.

The Thais were grateful for assistance Field gave them on immigration matters and carried out work in return on five of his properties between 2003 and 2006.

In August, the former Mangere MP was found guilty of 11 charges of bribery and corruption and 15 charges of attempting to obstruct or pervert the course of justice.

Yesterday he was jailed for six years.

He received four years for the bribery and corruption charges and two years for the obstruction charges, to be served cumulatively.

Justice Hansen said the Thai practice of giving created the conditions that led to the offending but he lay the blame squarely on Field.

"An aggravating factor was that you were prepared to exploit the Thai nationals that you helped.

"They revered you ... and you cynically used their adulation."

The judge said it was a test of Field's character and one, in his view, he failed.

It was wrong for him to accept a reward for doing his job.

Bribery and corruption threatened institutions, like Parliament, that were the foundation of democracy, he said.

"The public should be able to have complete trust and confidence in these institutions."

When then Prime Minister Helen Clark appointed Noel Ingram QC to investigate claims of wrongdoing, Field knew his career and reputation was on the line.

The inquiries were blocked when Field "shamelessly" traded on the friendship and loyalty of his Thai friends to try to avoid detection.

"What you did was sophisticated enough to succeed in diverting the Ingram inquiry ... It was an elaborate, careful, planned attempt to pervert the course of justice. If it had succeeded, serious criminal offending would have gone undetected."

Justice Hansen said one lie followed another: "It was very much the tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive."

Crown Solicitor Simon Moore SC said it was a sad day for everyone in the community.

"No one is happy with any sentence but it was a careful judgment by a judge who sat through 15 weeks of evidence."

Field's lawyer Paul Davison QC said it was a tough penalty for someone like him, but he had prepared for a jail term.

Mr Davison spoke to him after the sentencing and said he was coping with it.

"He's a strong man, he's composed and very secure in his knowledge of what he's responsible for."

Wife Maxine Field said she was disappointed and sad but her husband had done everything "with a clean heart".

"Our hearts go out to Taito but our hearts also go out to Samoa to people who have lost loved ones.

"It's a bad time but the law is the law what can we do?"

She would cope while he was in jail. "We're strong - the lord will take care of us."