KEY POINTS:
A witness giving evidence in the depositions hearing against Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field has told the court she lied to police.
Jansri Cole, a Thai hairdresser who has been in New Zealand since 1987, said she translated at two meetings after a Thai overstayer Sunan Siriwan asked Field for help to stay in New Zealand.
However, after Mr Siriwan went to Samoa on Field's advice, the witness said he called her and told her not to talk to police about his finances or his accommodation in New Zealand in case there were problems.
The witness told the depositions hearing in Manukau District Court today she lied to the police at her first interview but told them the truth at her second interview.
In evidence before she was cross-examined by Field's lawyer Paul Davison QC, she said Mr Siriwan had asked Field for help and had been told Field's family would look after him in Samoa.
She told the court Mr Siriwan had offered to do anything if Field helped him with his immigration problems.
About 50 prosecution witnesses were scheduled to be called in the case against Field. He faces 15 charges of bribery and corruption alleging he accepted work on seven of his properties by Thai nationals in return for immigration assistance between November 2002 and October 2005 in his capacity as an MP.
He also faces 25 charges alleging he attempted to obstruct or pervert the course of justice by making false statements, encouraging others to make false statements and creating false documents during subsequent inquiries into the corruption allegations by Noel Ingram QC and by police.
The hearing, before Judge Charles Blackie, is expected to take about three weeks.
- NZPA
