17 Mar 2011

Supreme Court grants Field limited leave to appeal

5:31 pm on 17 March 2011

Former MP Phillip Field has been granted leave to appeal against some of his convictions in the Supreme Court.

Field was jailed for six years in 2009 after being found guilty of 11 counts of bribery and corruption and 15 of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He is the first politician in New Zealand to be convicted of corruption for accepting labour from Thai people whom he helped with immigration matters and then trying to cover that up during an official inquiry.

Last year, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeals against conviction and sentence.

The Supreme Court on Thursday indicated it would hear an appeal on the bribery charges, but not on the other charges.