We love a challenge...

Judge Holden has been spending a bit of time here lately. And he laid down a challenge to us this morning with this comment:

Judge Holden said...
And what's Pansy Wong's involvement in all this?

Officials don't request that an individual's residence be revoked. That's not even close to their job. You really don't have any understanding at all of how these things work do you?

May 20, 2012 8:56 AM

We responded thus:

Sheesh; you Labour shrills must be worried if you have to keep raising the Pansy Wong defence.

Give me time later in the day when I have a proper Internet connection, and you'll get a full rebuttal. But when even Willie Jackson reckons that his mate Jones is in deep strife, it must be bad.

May 20, 2012 9:10 AM

Right; we're home now from a weekend working down the Kapiti Coast, and the WiFi at home is working a treat. So here we go.

Thus far, David Cunliffe's involvement in the Bill Liu dodgy passport case has been seen as secondary to Shane Jones' involvement. But that actually puts the cart before the horse.

Nine months before Liu was granted New Zealand citizenship, David Cunliffe received advice from Immigration New Zealand officials. That advise was that Liu was suspected of having multiple identities and multiple passports. On that basis, Cunliffe, then the Immigration Minister was asked to consider revoking Liu's permanent residence. Cunliffe chose not to take this course of action.

So here are some links to ponder:

NZ Herald 7/4/2010: The citizenship was granted nine months after officials advised the Immigration Minister at the time, David Cunliffe, that dual identities allegedly used by Yan were grounds to revoke his permanent residency. 

Stuff 19/5/2012: Three months later, bank accounts he held in Australia were frozen and in June 2007, $4m was sent to the Chinese Government. Yan was not convicted of any offence – he agreed to the repatriation without an admission of liability – but allegations swirling around him were so serious immigration officials suggested his permanent residency be revoked.

NZ Herald 31/1/2009: By 2007 Immigration officials recommended Liu's permanent residency be revoked on grounds that he had allegedly provided false information.

NZ Herald 4/7/2009: The citizenship was granted nine months after officials advised the Immigration Minister at the time, David Cunliffe, that dual identities allegedly used by Liu were grounds to revoke his permanent residency. 

And lastly, InvestigateDaily 3/12/2011:

Jones, as Associate Immigration Minister, was presumed to have seen immigration files on Yang Liu, in addition to his role as delegated Internal Affairs Minister. It was in that latter role that Jones gave Liu New Zealand citizenship, against the explicit warnings of officials who told him Liu’s identity was believed fake and that his citizenship application was fraudulent.

Internal Affairs sources have told TGIF that a recommendation also went to the Minister of Immigration recommending Liu’s permanent residency be revoked while it was still possible to do so, but the Minister overturned it.

TGIF spoke to then Immigration Minister Clayton Cosgrove who denied any involvement with the Liu case and said such cases would normally have been handled by the Associate Minister. Cosgrove subsequently told us this week he’d received a verbal briefing from officials confirming they believed Liu’s residency had been obtained fraudulently, and that he was under investigation. But Cosgrove reiterated he had never seen Liu’s file or received any written briefing.

Yet our OIA request to the Immigration Service for the file to Shane Jones recommending residency be revoked turned up a surprise answer:

“Papers of that nature were sent to a previous Minister of Immigration and are withheld,” confirmed Api Fiso, the Group Manager for Border Security at the Immigration Service.

With Cosgrove out of the picture, that left his predecessor David Cunliffe in the gun. It now appears Cunliffe was, like Jones, explicitly warned about Yang Liu’s fraudulent residency application, yet for inexplicable reasons chose not to revoke the Labour party donor’s visa when he had the chance.

There are plenty more links that we could list, but we reckon that we've risen to Judge Holden's challenge, and then some.

Had David Cunliffe followed the recommendation/request/advice from Immigration New Zealand officials (call it by whatever name you will) and revoked Liu's residence, the issue of citizenship would have been moot. But Cunliffe's actions are of now suprise; after all, he was the Minister who famously said "I'm running this show now Mr Ryall" around the same time, and who sacked the democratically elected Hawke's Bay District Health Board in 2008, a decision which he subsequently had to reverse or face a legal challenge.

So it wouldn't surprise if Shane Jones isn't too favourably disposed towards the MP for New Lynn at the moment; had Cunliffe done his job in 2007, Jones wouldn't be being left in the lurch even by his mates like Willie Jackson.

Oh; the unfairness of it all. Doubtless though Judge Holden will be able to brush it all off as "National good; Labour baaaaaad", and once again blame Pansy Wong. But with the news that David Shearer is keeping a watching brief on Jones' involvement, he may also have the opportunity to nobble on of his main challengers for the Labour Party leadership.