MPs in unison on memo fallout

By HELEN TUNNAH deputy political editor

Politicians united in calling for heads to roll yesterday over a damning report which found an Immigration Service official deliberately concealed a vital but sensitive memo from the Ombudsman.

Another staff member has been accused by Ombudsman Mel Smith of not providing credible evidence to him, despite being questioned under oath, and of "consciously" choosing not to give the memo to him.

National MP Murray McCully said Department of Labour chief executive James Buwalda should be sacked after clearing staff of deliberate wrongdoing last year in a "shabby coverup".

The Green Party and the Progressives called for the service's general manager, Andrew Lockhart, to go.

Immigration Minister Paul Swain yesterday said Dr Buwalda would not lose his job, saying the Ombudsman had found systems failures and procedures which were "sloppy".

The "lie in unison" row was sparked by the service's failure to reveal a memo existed, in which communications manager Ian Smith had written of a conspiracy by officials to lie about detained Algerian asylum-seeker Ahmed Zaoui.

Ombudsman Mel Smith said yesterday he believed that only Mr Smith had contributed to the writing of the memo, and that there was no evidence anyone agreed to lie in unison.

But he was heavily critical of the failure by Ian Smith and another unnamed staff member to release the sensitive memo when asked by National under the Official Information Act, and then to deny to him that it existed.

He was unable to find "sufficient reliable evidence" the two workers had conspired not to give him the memo.

Ian Smith is facing disciplinary proceedings for writing the memo, and was on leave yesterday.

However, a Department of Labour spokeswoman referred the Herald to a comment in the report that Ian Smith "strenuously" refuted Mel Smith's criticisms.

Ian Smith had failed to give the other staff member the memo when asked last year, initially saying he could not remember writing a media log on December 17, 2002. The log actually contained the "lie in unison" remarks. He did release several other memos written about the same time.

Later the media log, with the annotation, was found in the sent messages basket of Ian Smith's work computer. There were also references in his work diary that he had written a log that day.

It was also revealed that when he was first asked for the media logs under the act, Mr Smith had responded: "Who is the requester and what is this all about?"

He was repeatedly sent internal emails requesting the memo, and the Ombudsman said in his report it was "abundantly clear" that included media logs, with his comments attached.

Ian Smith later said under oath it was "Murphy's law" that the one vital memo had disappeared.

The other staff member did send the memo to the Ombudsman, but did not tell the Office she had taken Ian Smith's comments off it. She was described as a staff member experienced in handling official information requests.

Both Ian Smith and the woman said they did not discuss with each other whether the memo with Mr Smith's comments on it should be released.

In both cases, Mel Smith decided he could not treat their evidence as reliable.

Mel Smith said several times in his report that he found Ian Smith's evidence "unconvincing" or "difficult to accept".

Some evidence was "consistent" with an attempt to deflect attention away from the "lie in unison" memo.


He believed Ian Smith knew what was wanted by the Ombudsman's office but had "deliberately dissembled".

Mel Smith said the woman had also known what was being asked for and "consciously" failed to provide it. He did not accept her oral testimony and one of her emails to his office was "misleading".

The woman also disagreed with his findings. She has not been named by either the Ombudsman or the department.

Dr Buwalda yesterday said Mr Smith already faced disciplinary procedures.

Dr Buwalda would consider the Ombudsman's report before deciding on any action with regard to the woman.

He defended Mr Lockhart, who also assured the Ombudsman there was no such memo, but said he was undergoing performance management.

Dr Buwalda also defended his own investigation into the row, in which he last year cleared his staff of deliberately misleading the Ombudsman.

He said the Ombudsman had agreed there was no evidence his staff had conspired to deceive.

Mr Smith has referred his report to State Services Commissioner Michael Wintringham, so he is aware of the Ombudsman's views and also to reinforce previous calls from his office for a state agency to be set up to train public servants how to properly respond to information act requests.

Mr Wintringham, who had described the department's internal inquiry as "thorough", said yesterday the Ombudsman had uncovered no new matters relevant to the Department of Labour's earlier investigation.

He said the Ombudsman's "significant" finding also blamed systems errors while finding found no evidence of a collusion by staff to deceive the Ombudsman.

Timeline

How the 'lie in unison' scandal unfolded:

* Early last year, the National Party asked the Immigration Service for documents relating to terror suspect Ahmed Zaoui.

* The service refused the request in a blanket response.

* National appealed to the Ombudsman's office - specifying media logs from December 2002 relating to Zaoui and, in particular, those containing Immigration Service comment.

* Ombudsman Mel Smith pursued the matter. One official, Ian Smith, who had personally written on one media log on December 17, answered the request by providing three logs from dates other than the one central to the case.

* Another official, the service's in-house specialist on the Official Information Act, responded by providing an incomplete December 17 media log with one key part deleted.

* Mel Smith asked again, calling the general manager of the service to check if what had been given was, indeed, all that there was. The general manager, Andrew Lockhart, eventually wrote back that no more relevant information was held.

* The Ombudsman told the National Party it had been assured that no further information existed.

* In July, the Herald published Ian Smith's December 17 document - famous for its claim that officials had agreed to "lie in unison" over Zaoui.

* Mel Smith began an investigation into how his request could have been denied.

Read Ombudsman Mel Smith's full report [PDF]

Herald Feature: Ahmed Zaoui, parliamentarian in prison

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