'Lie in unison' official again on the mat

By HELEN TUNNAH

An immigration official who wrote of a plan to "lie in unison" over a suspected terrorist has been accused of writing disparaging remarks about Thai woman Pimthong Udompun.

National MP Murray McCully said Ian Smith, the Immigration Service's communications man, showed in his media logs an attitude not compatible with the organisation responsible for selecting New Zealand's citizens.

Pimthong Udompun was jailed for 2 1/2 days after she arrived in New Zealand in 2000. Her lawyer, Olinda Woodroffe, said she was detained because the Immigration Service suspected she was looking for work as a prostitute, newspaper reports at the time said.

"Like we'd think something like that," Mr Smith wrote of that suggestion in one log.

Of her surname, Udompun, he said: "Doesn't a name like that beat the living daylights out of something like Smith?"

Mr Smith is already facing disciplinary action for comments he wrote on an internal media log about Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui, who was detained as a suspected terrorist when he arrived last year.

The memo, distributed to 300 people and summing up the day's media reports on immigration issues, referred to criticism of the service over Mr Zaoui, and Mr Smith wrote: "I was let down badly. Everyone had agreed to lie in unison but all the others caved in and I was the only one left singing the original song."

A Department of Labour investigation found there was no evidence staff conspired to lie.

However, Ombudsman Mel Smith is still investigating why Immigration Service staff told him the memo did not even exist, and why they failed to release it under the Official Information Act.

The Herald has obtained other media logs written by Mr Smith, and they show he regularly wrote critically about reports on the service and claimed he was often abused by journalists.

The same day's memo which referred to Mrs Udompun also made reference to a Sri Lankan taxi driver who was found stabbed.

"Ouch," wrote Mr Smith.

Immigration Service head Andrew Lockhart and Department of Labour chief executive James Buwalda both declined to comment on the remarks on the log because of ongoing disciplinary action.