Field made 438 requests on immigration

Labour MP Taito Phillip Field asked the associate immigration minister to intervene in hundreds of immigration cases over the past three years.

Figures released by the Department of Labour under the Official Information Act show Mr Field, the MP for Mangere, made 438 such requests over the last term of Parliament, far more than any other MP.

The next closest were Ethnic Affairs Minister Chris Carter, who made 176 requests, and Labour's Manurewa MP George Hawkins, who made 172 requests to then Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor to intervene.

Mr Field is under investigation over allegations of conflict of interest.

Noel Ingram, QC, is looking into whether there was a conflict of interest in Mr Field asking Mr O'Connor to grant a work permit to a Thai overstayer who tiled Mr Field's house in Samoa.

The Government-ordered inquiry is also looking into claims that another Thai overstayer painted four houses for Mr Field.

A separate controversy, also included in the inquiry, involves a claim by a South Auckland family that Mr Field bought their house, which they were at risk of losing in a mortgagee sale, and sold it 16 months later for a $136,000 profit.

- NZPA