Disgraced former MP Taito Phillip Field will have to pay more than $27,000 for the unpaid work on his homes by Thai tradesmen in return for immigration help.
Field was jailed in 2009 for six years on 11 counts of bribery and corruption and 15 charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice over the work done on several homes he owned by Thai tradesmen whom he gave immigration assistance to.
He was released on parole after serving a third of his sentence but the issue of compensation for the work done was not settled until a hearing before Justice Rodney Hansen.
Lawyers for the Crown and Field argued about the benefits Field received from the plastering, painting and tiling work on four New Zealand homes and one Samoan home from the Thais.
The figure of $27,480 reached by Justice Hansen was between the estimates of $58,000 the Crown sought and the $15,500 Field argued.
He said some of the work was described by some of the experts as of a low standard but the amount of time spent doing the work was almost certainly higher than estimated by some of the tradesmen, who Justice Hansen said seemed unreliable witnesses at the trial.
The Crown initially wanted to argue the compensation figure should take into account the fact the four New Zealand properties were sold at a profit of $387,500 after being held, on average, for 17.8 months.
But Justice Hansen said it would be unfair to use this as a basis for the compensation and that he needed instead to focus on the work the tradesmen actually did.
NZN