Field’s appeal

The Dom Post reports:

Lawyers for New Zealand’s only member of Parliament to be prosecuted for bribery and corruption, Taito Phillip Field, have begun his appeal against conviction.

Field, who turns 58 on Sunday, is serving a six years jail term for bribery and corruption, and obstructing justice. …

Ms Cull said that what Field was accused of was not bribery, which she defined as receiving a benefit to influence the behaviour of an official in office.

Field had done nothing that was illegal in helping with the immigration cases of the Thai tradesman who worked at various properties field owned, she said.

At best he received gratuities, which was not an offence.

Field is entitled to an appeal.

The arguments put forward by his lawyer are seemingly shared by the Labour Party, as they went out of their way to never say they accept their colleague was corrupt – the only statement they made was they “acknowledge” the verdict.

Who knows – if Field wins his appeal, he may still be in time to get a list nomination for them.