Lawyers shoot down Government claim on Field

Government claims that the lawyer who conducted the Taito Phillip Field corruption inquiry chose not to ask for greater powers have been disputed by legal experts.

They say he had no scope to request more power.

Auckland QC Noel Ingram this week delivered his report on Mr Field's dealings, finding no conflict between the Labour MP's private interests and his role as a minister.

But Dr Ingram wasn't able to compel witnesses to be interviewed, and several people refused to talk to him.

Mr Field and Government ministers remained under fire in Parliament yesterday over questions raised in the report about the Mangere MP's conduct.

National MPs have seized on what they describe as "glaring omissions" in the report and continued their call for a more powerful inquiry.

Those calls have been resisted by Prime Minister Helen Clark and rejected by Mr Field.

Both have said Dr Ingram did not ask to be given greater powers.

But it appears that Dr Ingram had little choice but to live with the powers given to him - which were no greater than any other citizen's.

Auckland University constitutional law expert Associate Professor Bill Hodge said yesterday Dr Ingram couldn't have been given more power for the type of inquiry Helen Clark had asked him to undertake.

"There were no more powers to give ... without making something entirely new," Professor Hodge said, "that being either a statutory commission or a royal prerogative commission of inquiry."

It is understood Dr Ingram saw no scope to request wider powers, but he declined to comment yesterday.

On Wednesday, Mr Field told National Radio that Dr Ingram "had the power, had the opportunity, to go back and request further powers if he felt that was required".

Helen Clark told Parliament the same day that "I am not aware that at any time Dr Ingram requested other powers".

She has also referred to a part of Dr Ingram's report in which he said that even if he had been able to compel witnesses to attend, his inquiry might not have been significantly better.

In Parliament yesterday, National MPs accused Mr Field of paying workers below the minimum wage and not addressing tax requirements in those payments.

Helen Clark was in Auckland, and Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen appeared to mount only a limited defence of Mr Field, saying that Dr Ingram's inquiry found no conflict of interest but did find "significant errors of judgement".

He also said the matters raised about tax and wages "are of course matters which can be brought to the attention of a range of authorities".

National is considering contacting several agencies - including the police, Inland Revenue and the Department of Labour - over Mr Field's dealings, but is awaiting a decision from the Speaker, Margaret Wilson, about whether the matter should be referred to the privileges committee.