Field expected to be vindicated

Taito Phillip Field lost his ministerial post after the election. File picture / Mark Mitchell

Labour MP Taito Phillip Field is expected to be cleared of corruption today when a long-awaited report is released.

It is understood the report, written by Auckland QC Noel Ingram, doesn't identify serious wrong-doing on Mr Field's part, although it is believed it will raise questions about some judgements he made.

Prime Minister Helen Clark confirmed yesterday that she had read the report. "I expect to speak to Mr Field about it [today] and release it after that."

Mr Field made submissions on the draft report, which included raising concerns that Dr Ingram had gone beyond his brief. The Mangere MP returned from a holiday in Samoa yesterday and is believed to have been given a copy of the final version then.

He has repeatedly asserted he would be cleared by the inquiry, which the Prime Minister ordered in September, saying then it would take nine working days.

His lawyer, Satiu Simativa Perese, has predicted in the past that the inquiry would clear Mr Field of corruption, but yesterday he would only say: "We simply will wait to see when the report is released."

The inquiry was called after it was revealed Mr Field, then a Government minister, asked Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor to grant a work permit to a Thai overstayer who had tiled his house in Samoa. The Thai man, Sunan Siriwan, had been turned down for refugee status here but had stayed illegally.

Mr Field had asked Mr O'Connor to direct the Immigration Service to grant the permit if the Thai left NZ and applied for it from Samoa.

Mr O'Connor confirmed at the time that he had intervened to allow Mr Siriwan to reapply for a New Zealand work permit, but said he would revisit the case in the wake of the concerns.

As the story unfolded before last year's election Mr Field said his family had paid Mr Siriwan up to 170 to 200 tala ($91 to $108) a week since March while he waited for his New Zealand permit to come through, but maintained there was no "employment arrangement".

National called for an independent inquiry, with its then immigration spokesman Tony Ryall saying it would be concerning if Mr Field had received cheap services in return for his help.

"If a minister did get cheap services in return for supporting a work visa, then that is unprecedented. This would go to the heart of ministerial conflict of interest.

"And if Mr Field did not tell Mr O'Connor of the full circumstances around his representation, then that is very worrying."

Other allegations were later made, and some of these were canvassed in the inquiry.

After the election, Mr Field, who was under a cloud as a result of the inquiry, lost his associate ministerial portfolios of Pacific Island Affairs and Justice.

Asked earlier this year whether he expected his former posts back if cleared by Dr Ingram, he said: "Well, ... people expect natural justice if they're cleared."

The National Party has recently estimated that the inquiry has cost more than $250,000.

THE FIELD INQUIRY

* Taito Phillip Field was investigated for asking a ministerial colleague to grant a work permit to a Thai overstayer who tiled his house in Samoa.

* A separate issue involves an Otahuhu house Mr Field bought from a family who risked losing it in a mortgagee sale. He sold it 16 months later for a $136,000 profit.

* The inquiry, ordered last September, was supposed to take 9 days.