Wellington, October 06: A former New Zealand government minister was jailed Tuesday for six years for bribery, corruption and perverting the course of justice.
Taito Phillip Field became the first Pacific Island-born legislator in New Zealand when he was elected in 1993 but in August he also became the first member of parliament found guilty of bribery and corruption.
Justice Rodney Hansen sentenced Field to four years jail on the bribery and corruption charges and another two years for perverting the course of justice.
Field had received free work on houses he owned in New Zealand and Samoa from Thai nationals whom he was helping to get residence in New Zealand.
The 57-year-old was also convicted of trying to obstruct an inquiry called into his dealings with the Thais.
Justice Hansen said bribery was intolerable in New Zealand, threatening democracy and justice, adding Field had let people down who had trusted him.
“You breached that trust and undermined the very institutions it was your duty to uphold,” he said.
Field was an associate minister of Pacific Island Affairs in the previous Labour Party-led government of Helen Clark, which lost power in elections last year.
His ministerial responsibilities were taken off him in 2007 after the allegations surfaced and he left the Labour Party before last year’s elections, in which he ran under his own party but lost his seat in parliament.
Field has consistently maintained his innocence but was impassive as the sentence was passed Tuesday.
—Agencies