A home being built in a Pacific paradise is becoming a political embarrassment for two ministers in the New Zealand government.
The house in Samoa belongs to Labour's deputy Pacific Affairs Minister Taito Philip Field.
He arranged for an illegal Thai immigrant facing deportation to travel to Samoa to work on his home, while he lobbied a ministerial colleague to give the man and his deported wife New Zealand work permits.
Keith Williams contacted One News after he was unable to resolve a dispute over money that he had with Field.
In March
Thai overstayer Sunan Siriwan appealed to Field for help after his
de facto wife and child were deported from New Zealand.
Williams was at the meeting and he claims Field became very
interested when he found out Siriwan was a tiler. Williams says
Field said he was building a house and he had 400 square metres of
tiling to do.
"He asked him if he was an expert tiler and if he could do the job and it escalated from there," Williams told One News.
The minister paid for Siriwan and Williams to fly to Samoa, where the tiling job was carried out.
Then in May Field made a personal representation to associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor asking for work permits to be granted for Sunan Siriwan and his de facto wife.
O'Connor granted the couple two year work permits, saying in a letter: "It is not my normal practice to intervene in the established immigration application process, however I have decided to make an exception in this case."
O'Connor told One News he had no idea that Siriwan was tiling Field's home when he granted the work visa. He says he will now review the file.
Field rejects any suggestion the immigration review was linked to the work on his house.
"That's an absolute lie, a misrepresentation of the truth," says Field.
Siriwan's family have now joined him in Samoa in anticipation of their return to New Zealand - a return that is now uncertain.
