Corruption counts stem from investigation into Phillip Smith’s escape to Brazil, according to police.
Corruption charges have been laid against the prison guard who Phillip John Smith claimed helped him escape to Brazil.
The murderer and child sex offender fled New Zealand in November while on temporary release from Spring Hill Prison but was caught in Rio de Janeiro after being recognised by a fellow backpacker in a hostel.
Smith was deported and pleaded not guilty to charges of escaping lawful custody and making a false statement to renew a passport.
His younger sister Joanne has been charged with helping him escape, which she denies, while a fellow inmate, Christopher Ryan Clifton, admitted making a false statement to help Smith get a passport.
On his return to New Zealand, Smith released a handwritten statement which claimed a Corrections officer helped him to obtain a passport and gave him a smartphone and movies. Smith further alleged he received "numerous benefits" from the time of their first meeting to some time between October and November 2012.
Doubt was cast on Smith as an attention-seeker who enjoyed the limelight but the Weekend Herald can reveal the Corrections officer, Robert Sikora, who was stood down in December, will now appear in court.
"An Auckland man has been summonsed to appear in court on two charges of corruption in relation to the ongoing investigation into the escape of Philip John Smith in November 2014," an Auckland City police district spokeswoman confirmed.
Sikora will appear in the North Shore District Court next month.
At the time Smith raised his allegations, Corrections Department northern regional commissioner Jeanette Burns said they were "as yet unsubstantiated and incomplete".
"The allegations may turn out to be serious but until they're properly investigated and tested in court they remain just that, allegations."
Yesterday, she said "this person is no longer employed by Corrections" but could not comment further as this matter was before the court.
Sikora's online employment profile states he became a Corrections officer in January 2012 after a five-year stint training inmates to prepare food in the kitchen, but is currently unemployed.
Smith's escape is now the subject of a high-level government inquiry.
He is serving a life sentence for the 1995 murder of the father of a boy he had been sexually abusing, after tracking the family down to a Wellington house where they had moved to escape him.
Horror year for Corrections Department
The Mt Eden Corrections Facility. Photo / Nick Evans
The corruption charges against Robert Sikora come in a horror year for the Corrections Department.
Another guard is under investigation by police for smuggling contraband, including tobacco and cellphones, to two Head Hunters inside Mt Eden Prison allegedly part of a methamphetamine ring.
The arrests of the gang members came shortly after Corrections Department took control of the prison which was being operated by private company Serco, following allegations of fight clubs and drug smuggling. Serco was also docked $565,000 for breaching its contract.
On top of that came the death of Mt Eden inmate Liberty Charles Baker, 63, in his cell and a blunder by prison staff who broke protocol by removing his body from the scene. On behalf of the Coroner, the police are also investigating the death of Mt Eden inmate Nick Evans whom Labour MP Kelvin Davis claimed in Parliament died after he was "dropped" from a balcony.
