Field stood down - on full pay

Taito Phillip Field at Wellington Airport yesterday catching a flight home to Auckland after he was sent on leave. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Labour has stood Taito Phillip Field down on full pay during a police investigation of his conduct that is likely to take several months.

Police announced yesterday that they would conduct a formal investigation, saying it was a result of issues raised during the inquiry by Noel Ingram, QC.

It came a day after the Mangere MP ignored an invitation from Prime Minister Helen Clark to resign and instead decided to stay and defend himself.

Helen Clark, who had said she was powerless to take further action, immediately stood him down from all duties - including electorate ones - for the length of the investigation. Other MPs will cover his work and his vote will still be cast for Labour by its whips.

The police intervention was a huge relief for Labour, which has been unable to shake off either Mr Field or the claims being made against him. Now he and questions on the issue can be pushed to the side for the duration of the police inquiry, without his valuable vote being put at risk.

Neither the police nor the Prime Minister could say how long the investigation would take, but given the length and complexity of the Ingram inquiry, it is likely to be some months at least.

Mr Field rejected all allegations of inappropriate or illegal behaviour in a strongly worded statement on Wednesday and invited people making allegations to go to the police.

He said yesterday: "The focus will be to co-operate with the investigation. We want to get to the bottom of things. People just have to be patient. We'll go through the process."

His lawyer, Simativa Perese, said it was a mystery to him what the police found in the Ingram report to warrant the investigation.

"I'm waiting for the police to make some contact to at least establish with us what it is that they're going to be investigating, how long this is going to take, what is the procedure, what is the process, how Mr Field assists in terms of this inquiry."

National MP Lockwood Smith has been trying for weeks to encourage a man with details of a "serious cash payment" which involved immigration assistance from Mr Field's electorate office to talk to the police.

Dr Smith has yet to lay a complaint, but yesterday handed over all the details to Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess, who will conduct the investigation.

Helen Clark defended the decision to stand Mr Field aside on full pay, saying: "People are innocent until proven guilty in New Zealand."

She welcomed the investigation, saying she had long invited people making allegations to go to the police. She has, however, previously rejected calls to initiate a further inquiry as a result of the information in the Ingram report.

Dr Ingram effectively stated in his report that his narrow powers had resulted in many questions being left unanswered.

The police statement made it clear the investigation was a result of "consideration of the Ingram report" rather than any subsequent allegations. It would, however, also cover any later allegations.

National leader Don Brash said the decision was a "massive vote of no confidence in the Ingram report, the terms of reference Helen Clark laid down and her defence of that report over the past six weeks".

Senior Labour sources said that if the police had not acted it was inevitable the party would have taken further action, although it had yet to resolve what.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union - an affiliate of the Labour Party - yesterday passed a formal vote of no confidence in Mr Field.

Its national secretary, Andrew Little, said the Ingram report found that Mr Field had used the labour of vulnerable people for his own benefit and failed to pay them properly. The union was now consulting Mangere members to find a suitable new candidate.

The aim is to put further pressure on Mr Field to resign, which Mr Little believes he should still do immediately despite the police inquiry.

Police have been considering a formal inquiry for some time, but the Government said yesterday it had only just become aware of it - despite earlier news reports.

State Services Minister Annette King first learned an investigation was possible on Monday after a meeting with Police Commissioner Howard Broad.

Mr Broad then considered legal advice "suggesting that an investigation may be warranted" on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A spokesman for Mrs King said the commissioner had not discussed the nature of the legal advice with the minister.

Despite appointing Mr Burgess to head the investigation on Wednesday, the police told the Herald that day that no decision had been made.

LABOUR MPS' BRUSHES WITH THE LAW

Labour MP Taito Phillip Field joins a growing list of Labour MPs to be the subject of a police investigation. In the past seven years:

* Prime Minister Helen Clark was investigated over Paintergate, in which she signed a painting for charity that she did not paint. After a two-month police probe, the then Police Commissioner Rob Robinson said the investigation had established a prima facie case for forgery against the Prime Minister but he decided against laying charges.

* Police also investigated a motorcade she was travelling in which reached up to 140km/h during a 205.6km trip from Waimate to Christchurch Airport which took 96 minutes. Two police officers found guilty of dangerous driving had their convictions quashed yesterday. The PM's chauffeur had his conviction overturned in December.

* Cabinet Minister David Benson-Pope was the subject of a long police investigation into allegations he mistreated students more than 20 years ago while a teacher.
The police found there was a prima facie case but decided not to prosecute, saying the case had only come to light because of Mr Benson-Pope's prominent role.

* Police investigated Dover Samuels over allegations of sexual misconduct.
In June 2000 he was sacked from the Maori Affairs portfolio after Helen Clark said he could not be effective in his job while "allegations, controversy and public debate swirl around him".

* Ruth Dyson also had an encounter with police, which saw her resign from the Cabinet. She was convicted of drink-driving after failing a breath test in Wellington in October 2000. She was fined $600, lost her licence for six months, but returned to the Cabinet in June 2001.

* In a slightly different case, former Labour MP John Tamihere was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, not the police.

He resigned from the Cabinet in November 2004 after the SFO said it was investigating allegations of fraud at the Waipareira Trust while he was its chief executive. He was cleared of fraud a year later.

- additional reporting: Mike Houlahan, Simon Collins and NZPA