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Police have made a written request to interview Taito Phillip Field as they near the end of an inquiry that appears likely to result in charges being laid against the Labour MP for Mangere.
Mr Field is scheduled to meet his lawyer, Simativa Perese, today to decide whether
to agree to the interview.
His legal team has previously told detectives Mr Field would not be available for an interview unless it was to discuss fresh information.
Yesterday, Mr Perese said he was not sure if the information police wanted to discuss was new, and he needed to talk about that with Mr Field before making a decision about the interview.
"It's about whether those issues have already been dealt with," Mr Perese said.
Police are entering the final stages of an investigation into allegations that Mr Field accepted cheap labour from Thai workers in return for immigration assistance.
The inquiry is expected to be wrapped up in two to three weeks.
A source said yesterday that charges now seemed likely to be laid against Mr Field, and inquiries by police in Samoa had been useful.
Locally, police had been looking into more examples of work being done on houses by immigrants and also assessing the veracity of certain documents.
It is understood officers have also been interested in establishing whether anybody could be charged with misleading last year's inquiry by Noel Ingram, QC.
If Mr Field is charged, it could be under a little-used part of the Crimes Act which relates to corruption and bribery by MPs and carries a maximum sentence of seven years' jail.
Mr Field has been on leave from Parliament on full pay since the end of August, when the police investigation was announced.
Labour senior whip Tim Barnett said yesterday he thought that arrangement would probably continue if Mr Field was charged, unless Prime Minister Helen Clark or Labour Party president Mike Williams wanted to change it.
Mr Williams has previously said that Mr Field was entitled to natural justice.
Mr Barnett has been in regular contact with Mr Field, and said the Mangere MP was "calm and confident" and keen to see an end to the investigation.
Mr Field's electorate services are being run from his office while he is on leave and Labour list MP Dave Hereora is dropping in weekly to help.
Labour is expected to face renewed attacks about Mr Field when Parliament resumes tomorrow.
A spokeswoman for Helen Clark said yesterday that the PM would not comment on the investigation.
Should Mr Field be charged, it could be politically embarrassing for Labour if a trial was to take place around the time of next year's election.
Helen Clark has already indicated that Mr Field is unlikely to be re-selected as Labour's candidate in Mangere.
Mr Field is entitled to stay in Parliament if he is charged, but if he is convicted of an offence carrying a sentence of two years or more in prison he would have to resign his seat.
If charges are not laid, Labour faces an awkward decision about what to do with Mr Field, who would be entitled to remain in Parliament.
