Conflicting evidence raises heat on Government

Taito Phillip Field

The Ingram inquiry was not able to resolve some of the issues surrounding Taito Phillip Field and the Thai tiler's work on the Field house in Samoa.

Taito Phillip Field and his wife Maxine appear to have misled either the Ingram inquiry or the Samoan Government over the employment of a Thai tiler, a Weekend Herald investigation reveals.

They told Noel Ingram, QC, they had no plans to employ Sunan Siriwan when they arranged to send him to Samoa.

But Mrs Field filled out a Samoan immigration employment sponsorship form promising to be his employer.

A Samoan work visa was then granted to Mr Siriwan conditional on his "continued employment with Field".

Samoa's chief executive officer of Immigration, Vaasatia Poloma Komiti, confirmed this week that Mrs Field organised the permit.

Asked who the designated employer was, he said: "It was the Fields ... I think it was Maxine."

Yet the Fields went to significant lengths when interviewed by Dr Ingram to deny any suggestion they intended to employ Mr Siriwan in Samoa, from where they told him he had a better chance of gaining a New Zealand work permit.

Dr Ingram found Mr Field benefited inappropriately from cheap labour in exchange for immigration help on several occasions in New Zealand.

Unresolved were a number of other instances with the potential for this to have occurred, including Mr Siriwan's case. If the MP was found to have employed more people in these instances it would likely have indicated a deliberate pattern of inappropriate behaviour, rather than more isolated incidents.

Mr Field's lawyer, Simativa Perese, continues to reject and deflect any suggestion of wrongdoing.

He said the Fields' intentions were genuine and there was no contradiction between the work visa application filled out by Mrs Field - which states "to be completed by an employer who wishes to employ an overseas worker" - and their assertion that, in Mr Perese's own words, "it was not the case that there was any premeditation or plan" for Mr Siriwan to work for the Fields in Samoa.

National immigration spokesman Lockwood Smith said the work permit details showed "Mr Field's evidence to the Ingram inquiry was incorrect and that goes to the heart of the whole thing. Had Ingram been in possession of that information he never would have concluded what he did".

The TVNZ Sunday programme is expected to release further damaging material tomorrow, believed to relate to an affidavit from a former secretary, Siniva Papali'i, who left Mr Field's electorate office in 2002.

Creating further embarrassment for the Government is an admission by Labour MP Ross Robertson that he was in Samoa holidaying when Mr Siriwan first arrived there with New Zealand builder Keith Williams on March 17 last year; that he socialised with the pair and Mr Field in those initial days and had the impression they were there working on Mr Field's house.

"I got the impression they were there to help Phillip in whatever way they were there for. They were living in the house there and there was obviously work to be done."

Mr Robertson refused to comment when asked if Mr Field told him Mr Siriwan was working for him.

The Fields' claim that there was no intended employment relationship with Mr Siriwan contradicted claims of other witnesses spoken to by Dr Ingram or obtained by him.

Dr Ingram could find little proof that Mr Siriwan was working on Mr Field's house until some time in April.

He found there was no evidence that Mr Field knew this when he met Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor on May 17 - two months after the tiler went to Samoa - to seek a New Zealand work visa for him.

Dr Ingram found Mr Siriwan had helped with levelling on the house and ended up tiling much of it but for no "formal remuneration".

But he was given food, accommodation and about $108 a week from Mrs Field's relatives from the date he arrived.

Despite the immigration form filled out by his wife, Mr Field told Dr Ingram he was unaware of the payments "until around June".

Mr Perese said he believed Dr Ingram had taken any issues to do with the Samoan work permit into account.

But Dr Ingram did not examine the apparent contradiction in the report. The Herald understands he did not access the application and subsequent approval granted on the day Mr Siriwan arrived in Samoa and conditional on "continued employment with Field".

This was sighted by a reporter working for the Herald in Samoa last year, but has attained new significance in light of assertions in the Ingram report.

Mr Perese said Mrs Field had applied for the work permit as she was trying to "assist Siriwan" find work with friends and other people.

"But at the early stage [when she filled it out] it was probably right that she wasn't able to say who was going to employ him", which is why she would have entered her name, he suggested.

He stressed that Dr Ingram found there was "no scheme of Siriwan going over there to work for the Fields".

Asked if they had therefore misled Samoan immigration if Mrs Field actually had no plans to employ Mr Siriwan and he was consequently in Samoa unlawfully, he said: "Well, I guess that's a matter you need to put to Paloma Komiti."

Despite saying he would supply the Herald with more details on the work permit application, Mr Komiti has subsequently proved hard to reach.

Of Mr Robertson's impression that Mr Siriwan was there to work for Mr Field, Mr Perese said, "What's the point of that? That's his impression, that certainly wasn't the case".

Answers and more questions

* Helen Clark ordered an investigation last September after allegations that Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field misused his position by seeking a favourable immigration direction for Sunan Siriwan, a Thai tiler alleged to have been working on his house in Samoa. Other allegations, including some of a similar nature, were also made. Mr Field was not reappointed a minister after the election.

* After an inquiry, Noel Ingram, QC, found Mr Field had not misused his ministerial position but raised serious questions about his judgment. Dr Ingram found Mr Field got cheap labour from several people to whom he gave immigration help. Helen Clark said the decision not to re-appoint him to a ministerial post was his punishment.

* The Opposition believes Mr Field should be forced from Parliament, and further issues are emerging including:

1 The apparent contradiction between a Samoan work visa application confirming the Fields would employ Mr Siriwan there and their subsequent denial to Dr Ingram that they ever intended to employ him.

2 Fellow Labour MP Ross Robertson's admission that he spent time with Mr Field and Mr Siriwan after Mr Siriwan had just arrived in Samoa and had the "impression" he was there working on the Fields' house.

3 More damaging claims about what happened in the MP's electorate office, due to be aired on tomorrow's Sunday programme.