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A High Court judge has reserved his decision on whether independent MP Taito Phillip Field should face bribery and corruption related charges.
The 15 charges relate to work done on seven houses Field owns in Auckland, Tonga, Wellington and Samoa.
It is alleged the work was done in
return for then Labour MP Mr Field giving immigration assistance to the workers.
Justice Tony Randerson reserved his decision following a day-long hearing at the High Court in Auckland today.
Approval from the court is needed for the charges to proceed because Mr Field is a sitting MP.
He was a Labour MP at the time the allegations surfaced but is now an independent.
Much of the arguments today surrounded the legal definition of corruption.
Mr Field's lawyer Paul Dacre said the argument was over bribery and not corruption, and that the charges could only be allowed if both parties to the transaction were aware it was illegal.
He said Mr Field had not made any moves to improve the immigration status of the tilers and plasterers concerned.
Crown prosecutor Simon Moore said there was no need to establish whether the workers were willing parties, merely whether Mr Field's actions were unlawful or improper.
At the end of the hearing Mr Dacre asked Justice Randerson to suppress a remark by Mr Moore that the work on the houses was worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Mr Dacre said it should be suppressed as it wasn't in any of the evidence files and it might be a throwaway remark.
However, Mr Moore said Mr Johnstone's assertion would form part of the prosecution case and the remark was allowed to remain in the public domain.
During a break in the hearing today Mr Field said it was a slow process but he was confident.
"I am satisfied the process is being thoroughly looked into and I have confidence in the judicial system."
The court was packed with Mr Field's supporters for the hearing today and outside the court they sang a song of support.
"It indicates the strength of support in Mangere for me. We have a diverse community and they are represented here. We have all the Pacific ethnicities represented. We have got Indians and Asians and Europeans."
He said he was drawing his strength from his belief that he had done nothing wrong.
"You believe in your innocence. All I have tried to do was to help people who came to me for help."
He said some of them did work for him but the language difficulties may have caused some of the confusion.
- NZPA
