Saturday April 19, 2008

Concerns about help that Immigration Service chief Mary Anne Thompson gave relatives from Kiribati to enter New Zealand and gain residency led to an independent investigation last year into conflicts of interest - but it was kept secret.

The investigation, conducted by former secretary of justice David Oughton, found that the approvals by an immigration officer were at variance with department policy: they were lodged outside the time-frame and in spite of the fact the quota for Kiribati had been filled.

A staff member was disciplined for approving the residency outside of delegated authority but Dr Thompson was not disciplined.

She had helped the relatives to fill in their application forms and declared that on the form.

She had also sought help from immigration officers for the same family members to get visa waivers to enter New Zealand in December 2004 and May 2005 - and not told her boss at the time, Department of Labour secretary James Buwalda.

Present secretary Christopher Blake, who oversees the Immigration Service, said last night that the investigation had taken place and that he took allegations of conflict of interest seriously.

"However, there is no basis for reopening these particular investigations or conducting a new inquiry."

He added: "[The] report found that Ms Thompson had not at any stage sought to influence the outcome of the applications, and that her involvement had been to assist with completion of the form and to send in the application."

His statement followed an item on One News. It included an interview by reporter Hayden Jones, using a hidden camera, with Dr Thompson's nephew Kauri Katekeimoa, who works in a supermarket.

Dr Thompson's husband, Baerauti, is from Kiribati. The pair met when she lived there, and she is known there as a former pop star.

The actions that were investigated last year occurred when Dr Buwalda was secretary, and the inquiry was conducted under the term of acting secretary Graham Fortune. Mr Blake took up the job in October.

Dr Thompson headed the Prime Minister's policy advice group when she accompanied Helen Clark to Kiribati for the Pacific Islands Forum in 2000. She was also acting chief executive of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and a top adviser to Winston Peters when he was Treasurer.
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(Source NZ Herald, Audrey Young)