Immigration Service fires worker in new conflict of interest case

By HELEN TUNNAH deputy political editor

A second New Zealand Immigration Service worker in Bangkok has lost his job, just months after an official in Thailand was accused of taking thousands of dollars in exchange for visas.

The caseload of the worker involved in the latest incident is being reviewed, after service managers discovered the person had failed to declare close family ties to an immigration consultant.

Both workers were Thai nationals.

The service said yesterday three staff members had resigned or been dismissed after failing to tell bosses about potential conflicts of interest, including a worker at the service's Bangkok office.

That follows the dismissal of a worker five months ago amid allegations he swindled Cambodians out of money in exchange for guaranteeing the success of New Zealand visa applications.

In the latest cases, all three workers were found to have partners or relatives working for immigration consultancies, without telling the service - as its code of conduct demands.

Immigration Service general manager Andrew Lockhart told the Herald that the caseload of one of the workers had already been checked and cleared.

The work of the other staff, including the Thai official and an Auckland worker, was still being checked.

Mr Lockhart said the Immigration Service's code of conduct required all staff to declare any possible conflict of interest from their work so it could be properly managed, or the conflict ended.

Act MP Rodney Hide last night called for an independent inquiry into the Immigration Service and its management.

He said the revelations of undeclared conflicts for three staff came on top of other problems for the service, including a worker asking for sexual favours from a female residency applicant.

In that case the police were not told of the accusations, which were dealt with internally as an employment matter.

The service has also been criticised for its handling of the detention of Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui, and a memo which said staff had agreed to "lie in unison" about Mr Zaoui.

An Ombudsman's report into the memo, and the service's initial denial that it existed, is due to be released this month.

Mr Hide said he had no evidence of corruption involving the three workers with conflicts, but the fact they had held down jobs raised "very grave concerns" about the service.

"Immigration quite rightly is concerned about family members working as consultants, because of the potential conflict of interest," he said.

"So they have a policy of 'you have to tell the boss'. That policy hasn't been followed on three occasions. The staff haven't been following the rules."

Mr Lockhart said the failure of staff to declare conflicts was an individual issue, not a systems issue.

He said the service tried to ensure, through its own quality assurance and internal audit systems, that conflicts could not occur.

Mr Lockhart said in two of the cases allegations of a conflict had been made directly against a staff member, and were investigated.

In the third incident, the staff member was being asked about another matter when the conflict was uncovered.

Their caseloads were reviewed to ensure there was no "compromise" on decisions.

He said Audit NZ had already reviewed controls which were in place at both the Bangkok and New Delhi offices, and new systems were being implemented.

Immigration troubles

Three Immigration Service staff have resigned or been forced to quit over potential conflicts of interest.

This comes on top of criticism of the service's handling of detained Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui.