PM orders investigation into visa claims

Taito Phillip Field.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said today an independent investigator will look into visa allegations surrounding Labour minister Taito Phillip Field.

Senior Cabinet ministers and Helen Clark separately spoke to Mr Field this morning about allegations that Mr Field gave assistance to a Thai overstayer.

The Thai man was seeking a New Zealand work permit and tiled Mr Field's house in Samoa.

Mr Field asked Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor to review applications for New Zealand work visas by Sunan Siriwan and his wife after Mr Siriwan went to Mr Field for help.

He was facing deportation, and his de facto Thai wife had already been deported.

Mr O'Connor agreed to review the case. Mr Field then offered Mr Siriwan, who had to leave the country, a place to stay in Samoa.

While there Mr Siriwan did tiling work on Mr Field's half-completed house. Mr Field has denied any wrongdoing. He said when he helped Mr Siriwan with the visa matter there was no plan for him to go to Samoa, and even once there Mr Field had not employed him. 

A spokesman for Helen Clark today said the senior ministers, including Steve Maharey, were meeting Mr Field to sort out the facts.

Labour MPs, including Mr Field, were today holding a caucus meeting at Premier House in Wellington.

Helen Clark told reporters she had spoken to Mr Field this morning.

She said he had asked for an "independent look" at the allegations and added: "I'm moving this morning to get someone appointed to look at them."

Helen Clark said that person would almost certainly be a Queen's Counsel.

She had recommended Mr Field "take a break" while the investigation was being undertaken.

Helen Clark said her initial reading of the situation when she saw what Mr Field had to say last week was that he was "trying to be helpful" to someone who came to him for assistance.

"Of course with the cabinet manual there's always the issue of perceptions being important as well. So, I think it's best if someone independent looks at it and gets to the bottom of it."

Asked whether Mr Field's ministerial job was at risk, Helen Clark said she was suspending judgment on that until after the independent investigation was completed.

He was not being suspended at this stage because the Government was a caretaker one so no new policy initiatives were being undertaken, Helen Clark said.

She said she had recommended Mr Field take a break at this time because it had been a very intense campaign and while party leaders were working on the shape of the next government, it was a time when other MPs could catch up and spend time with their families.

Helen Clark could not say how long the independent report would take but she wanted it "as soon as possible".

She did not have a report on Mr O'Connor's review of the case.

National Party immigration spokesman Tony Ryall today said Helen Clark had waited until her Associate Pacific Islands Affairs Minister had secured a strong South Auckland vote before investigating his role in the "visa-gate immigration scandal".

He said the minister was clearly involved in a conflict of interest which contravened instructions in the Cabinet manual but Helen Clark did not act before the election because it could have hurt her election chances.

"She has known about this for more than a week but has refused to even acknowledge its existence until now," Mr Ryall said.

- NZPA