From Pacific Island advocate to disgrace

BY MICHAEL FIELD

Taito Phillip Field saw himself as an advocate for Pacific Islanders and any minority who found themselves in trouble with immigration and the law.

Anything that looked a little odd about favours could be explained by Thai and Pacific culture.

But in the High Court in Auckland he was found guilty of exploiting migrant vulnerability to enrich his property development business.

The verdicts came after a gruelling 16 week trial which saw two of the 12 jurors fall by the wayside.

It had been an epic long before, running through two general elections, a legal inquiry and a police investigation before Field was charged in 2007.

Even laying charges against a sitting Member of Parliament went as high as the Supreme Court.

It was a very simple set of transactions that bought Field down.

Field had a knack at property development, regularly buying houses in his company name, TP Field Developments Ltd, in Auckland and Wellington, doing them up and on-selling them, or renting them.

A Samoan matai or chief, Field dreamt of retiring back to his homeland.

In October 2004 be bought a partially finished mansion in Afiamalu, in the damp hills behind Apia.

It had been owned by a Swiss man who had paid a contractor WS$800,000 (NZ$467,000) - the contractor then fled.

It needed plastering, tiling and painting.

As the Mangere MP his electorate clinics featured Thai and Laotian overstayers, who dominated the tiling and plastering market. They were already doing his Auckland and Wellington houses.

Tiler Sunan Siriwan had been in New Zealand since 1997, most of the time illegally. He had applied for refugee status, claiming he belonged to a Buddhist temple sect that the Bangkok Government opposed.

He demanded a hearing in Pali, an ancient, largely unused, language.

He was denied refugee status and as one witness told the trial, he was a "hopeless immigration case".

So in February 2005 he went to Field who had a reputation of overcoming the odds, based on the trust of Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor.

Field knew that Mr Siriwan stood little chance of staying as long as he was illegally here.  

Then he discovered that Mr Siriwan was a tiler. He needed some tiling in Samoa and in return for that, Field would get him a visa back to New Zealand.

Mr Siriwan did some contract work for builder Keith Williams and both men decided to go to Samoa.

The two lived at the house but Field discovered alcohol and "two women ... in the state of semi-undressed ... they were asleep, intoxicated."

He kicked out Mr Williams and by the end of March he was back in New Zealand where he later blew the whistle.

Mr Siriwan stayed and was joined by his partner Aumporn Phanngarm and their child.

Word got around Apia that the Thais were doing some work for Field, in return for visas to enter New Zealand. Immigration New Zealand's officials in Apia heard the rumours and reported them to Wellington.

Mr O'Connor never saw the reports and on June 23, 2005, he wrote to Field saying the Thai couple could have visas.

Two weeks before the 2005 September elections, the scandal broke with a disgruntled Mr Williams speaking out.

Under pressure the then Prime Minister Helen Clark ordered an inquiry, to be conducted by Noel Ingram, QC.

It raised the issue of the Samoan practice of lafo, or gift giving, saying it could compromise government ministers. Later, in court, the nature of Thai Buddhist culture was also argued.

In the mind of the police, it wasn't so much culture, but bribery. As they investigated they came up against attempts by Field to obstruct and pervert the investigation.

Most visible were receipts, written long after the event by the Thais, for services they had carried out for Field, but had never billed for.

Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess interviewed Field over an eight and three quarter hour period, telling him that he had been caught: "you're trying desperately to cover your tracks for a few favours that you got for a few favours that you did."

The jury believed the police, not Field.

 

- © Fairfax NZ News