Former MP gets six years for corruption

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A former Cabinet minister waved his Bible at supporters as he was led from a courtroom to begin a six-year sentence for bribery and corruption.

The sentence related to Taito Phillip Field's use of Thai nationals to carry out mostly unpaid work on several of his properties in return for granting them immigration assistance between November 2002 and October 2005.

Two months ago Field, a former associate minister for justice and the first New Zealander of Pacific Islands descent elected to Parliament, was found guilty on 11 counts of bribery and corruption and 15 counts of attempting to obstruct or pervert the course of justice.

National media had reported Field's public apologies last week where he said he was sorry for any grief he caused. But he remained adamant that he was innocent of breaking any law.

But now the public shaming was complete for Field, 57, who is also New Zealand's first lawmaker to be thrown in jail for such serious crimes, according to a graphic account of his sentencing by the New Zealand Herald.

The elephant in the courtroom was the Samoan concept of faama -- the public shaming of a leader, according to the Herald report. Apart from his Justice Department appointment, during 15 years as an MP Field held the portfolios of Pacific Island Affairs and associate minister for social development and employment. He was most notably associate minister for justice just before being expelled from the Labor Party over corruption allegations.

The trial of the now disgraced Field, first elected to Parliament in 1993, lasted from April 22 to Aug. 4. He was committed to face the charges in May 2008, a fact that likely lost him his seat last November to a candidate from his former party, Labor.

The controversial Field first came under the media spotlight in September 2005 when a TV3 program said he had used a Thai man who was facing deportation to do some work on his house. After Field asked the Immigration Department to review the man's deportation, the man and his Thai wife were granted permits to stay.

Field, a Labor MP at the time, consistently denied he interfered in any way. But a government investigation and a subsequent police investigation led Prime Minister Helen Clark to suggest that Field should reconsider his future as an MP.

Further complaints led police to formally lay charges of bribery and corruption against Field in May 2007. By this time the Labor Party had expelled him. He later set up his own Pacific Party to contest his former seat of Mangere in the November 2008 general election but lost to a Labor Party candidate.

In Auckland's High Court Field had the support of around 100 Samoans from Mangere, including his close family and wife, Maxine. She entered helped by a supporter and sat in the back row of the court looking pale with reddened eyes. Field sat upright in the dock between two burly security guards, staring intently ahead and clutching a well-thumbed red Bible, the Herald noted.

Two hours later Justice Rodney Hansen began the sentencing, saying Field had exploited the gratitude of Thais who had approached him for help in immigration cases.

When Field was sentenced there were gasps from the public gallery, and as he was being taken down a supporter called, "be strong, Phillip."

Immigration issues are a sensitive topic in the country. In 2005 a U.N. expert, Sigma Huda, said human trafficking is likely far more prevalent in New Zealand than most people believe. Huda, the United Nations' first special rapporteur on human trafficking, said it is a mistake to think that human trafficking is only about forcibly smuggling women across borders to work as prostitutes. Victims include mail-order brides for which there are many ads in New Zealand.

This week the government said it would not review or change the Immigration Advisers Act, which is supported by all political parties and makes it illegal for anyone without a license to give any advice on immigration matters. People with no license can be prosecuted if they discuss, direct, assist or even blog anything that can be constituted as immigration advice.

Kiwi Immigration Watch, an immigration watchdog, said the act breaches the Bill of Rights and the basic human right to freedom of speech.