Illegal immigration paperwork pushed

A senior immigration official appointed in controversial circumstances has been named as one of those involved in processing the illegal residency application of immigration boss Mary Anne Thompson's family.

The Sunday Star-Times can reveal that Mai Malaulau, director of the service's Pacific division, allegedly told staff to process the application by Thompson's nephew and his wife from Kiribati.

This was despite the fact that the application was lodged eight months after the quota for Kiribati had expired. The nephew, Kauri Katekeimoa, and his family were granted residency a few months later, ahead of others who had applied properly. Malaulau denies the allegation.

Until now, Malaulau's name had been kept secret, blanked out in Official Information Act documents released to the media.

But a whistleblower, former second in charge of the Pacific division's Manukau branch Sarah Flesher, has told the Star-Times that Wellington-based Malaulau arrived at the Manukau branch in November of 2005 and instructed that the application be processed.

Malaulau allegedly said: "Put it in the system there are slots available in the grid."

When former justice secretary David Oughton later launched an investigation into the case, Malaulau denied any such involvement. Oughton's report concluded that there was "no evidence to link [Malaulau] with the decision making".

After One News broke details of the case last month, the State Services Commission launched a new inquiry, which will look at the roles of Malaulau and other staff, and earlier moves by Thompson to get family into the country which were not covered by the Oughton report.

Malaulau was appointed to her position by one of Thompson's inner circle, Kerupi Tavita, who was handpicked by Thompson to help her restructure the Immigration Service when she took over in late 2004. They had worked together in the prime minister's department.

Initially working on a consultancy basis, Tavita was made "group manager service international" with responsibility for the Pacific and refugees. He is described as fiercely loyal to Thompson.

But he got in trouble over his appointment of Malaulau to head the new Pacific division because of a conflict of interest.

Malaulau was, and still is, a director of a policy consultancy company Tavita had set up, Pacific Edge International. Tavita had stood down from the company, but his wife remained a director.

Sources have confirmed that then Labour Department chief executive James Buwalda ordered an inquiry and Tavita was reprimanded.

The Star-Times can also reveal that the only official other than Thompson to have been reprimanded over her family's application was Nancy Sandoy, the Manukau branch manager of the Pacific division.

Sandoy admitted to Oughton she directed staff to process the application but did not have valid authority to do so. She said she did this of her own accord and did not have any communication with national office staff. But Flesher says that after she refused Sandoy's instructions to process the application, Sandoy made a phone call and about a week later Malaulau arrived in the office with the file.

Flesher told the Star-Times that not only did Thompson fill out and sign her family's residency application, she also signed the cheque for the $650 fee.

Flesher said she and other staff had serious concerns about other "goings-on" at the Manukau branch, including pressure to provide "character waivers" for people with criminal convictions.

A request through the Labour Department for interviews with Thompson, Malaulau and Sandoy was declined.

National's immigration spokesman, Lockwood Smith, said the further allegations by Flesher, including character waivers, were serious and needed to be included in the commission's inquiry.

- © Fairfax NZ News