Thailand offers to take Field tiler back

Taito Phillip Field's house in Samoa. Picture / Savaii Times

The Thai Government has offered to repatriate the tiler at the centre of the work permit inquiry involving MP Taito Phillip Field.

The Herald yesterday reported that Sunan Siriwan had applied for New Zealand work permits for himself and his wife, Aumporn Phanngarm, a deported overstayer.

Mr Siriwan - a central figure in the Ingram report into Mr Field's conduct - was allegedly sent to Samoa to tile the MP's home while Mr Field helped him to apply for a work permit.

Mr Siriwan remains in Samoa.

His Auckland lawyer, Olinda Woodroffe, said her client was there with his family and they were in a "desperate situation" and had applied for a visa to re-enter New Zealand.

Yesterday, Thai Ambassador Norachit Sinhaseni told the Weekend Herald Mr Siriwan had been in touch with embassy officials but had not yet requested he and his family be taken back to Thailand.

Mr Sinhaseni said the Thai Government would be happy to pay for the family's return, although arrangements would have to be made for a Thai passport for Mr Siriwan's four-year-old son born in New Zealand. Mr Siriwan's Thai passport expired in April but was renewed for 12 months.

He originally came to New Zealand in January 1997, overstaying a visitor's permit and applying for refugee status in July 2001.

The Ingram report, commissioned by Prime Minister Helen Clark, said Mr Siriwan stated in the application that he was a member of a Thai religious group and faced persecution if returned to Thailand.

The report said the Refugee Status Branch received 285 similar applications from Thai members of the "Wat Thai" group who claimed they feared persecution by their Government and Thai Muslims but provided no credible evidence.

The Refugee Status Appeals Authority said such applications were "an abuse of the New Zealand refugee determination system" and the Ingram report said Mr Siriwan's application was "typical".

The Thai Ambassador said he was not aware of the contents of Mr Siriwan's refugee application but applications made on the basis of religious persecution were false.

"Practically all the applicants to New Zealand immigration under those pretexts have been refused because, in reality, there is no persecution of any religion of any kind."

Asked if Mr Siriwan was wanted in Thailand for criminal or other offences, Mr Sinhaseni said: "I have no information on that."

The Department of Labour has confirmed it received work permit applications from the Siriwans but would make no further comment on the status of the applications yesterday.

When it was revealed the couple had applied for the visas, police said Mr Siriwan could be questioned as part of their investigation into the Field case if he was allowed to return.

Mr Field is on indefinite leave from Parliament while the police investigation continues.

Police spokesman Jon Neilson acknowledged Mr Siriwan was a central figure in the case but said he had not been interviewed before now because the investigator in charge of the case was going through files and talking to other people.

Asked if police would consider going to Samoa to interview Mr Siriwan, he said: "At this point, I don't even know if he's on the programme to be interviewed. All we've said is that all people involved with the case would be interviewed or talked to at some point."

Mr Siriwan's lawyer did not return calls yesterday but on Thursday she told the Herald she had been hired in the past two weeks to oversee Mr Siriwan's visa application.

She said Mr Siriwan and his family had no money. Since arriving in Samoa, he had been paid low wages or not paid for tiling jobs.