Police study Garrett's false claim of no convictions

David Garrett. Photo / Simon Baker

David Garrett is being investigated by the police for lying to a court in 2005, when he was facing charges of stealing the identity of a dead baby to obtain a passport.

Detective Inspector Bruce Scott said he had been directed to investigate what the former Act MP had told the court in 2005.

He confirmed that the investigation would look at Mr Garrett's conviction for assault in Tonga in 2002 and the fact that he did not include the conviction in his sworn affidavit.

Mr Garrett was a practising barrister in Auckland at the time and an officer of the court.

"Since being admitted [to the bar] in 1992, I have committed no criminal offence, nor [had] any disciplinary proceedings brought against me either in New Zealand or Tonga. The worst I could be accused of is incurring some parking fines," he told the court.

A submission for name suppression from his lawyer at the time, Gary Gotlieb, said: "Mr Garrett has no previous convictions of any kind."

Yesterday, Mr Gotlieb said: "Naturally I prepared an affidavit on the basis of what he told me."

Mr Garrett's affidavit and his lawyer's submissions were made available to the media for the first time yesterday.

The Herald applied for the entire court file after Judge Philippa Cunningham released the judge's sentencing notes and Mr Garrett's charge sheet last month.

In his ruling on media applications to view the file, Judge Lindsay Moore said the court relied on the truth of material placed before it.

"Courts can be misled in their evaluation of a sentencing matter not only by what is placed before them but by what has been omitted."

Judge Moore said if a person attempted to mislead a court, he or she risked being found out by the opposing side or the judge.

"Less obvious and equally important is that if the flaws in what are placed before the court are not exposed during the court process, they may later be exposed because that process occurs in public under the scrutiny of, among others, the news media," Judge Moore said.

Mr Garrett has applied to the Law Society for a certificate to practise law in New Zealand. His previous certificate had lapsed. Spokesman Geoff Adlam said the society was making inquiries.

Mr Garrett resigned from Act and Parliament in September.