A review will be carried out into Superintendent Rakesh Naidoo's engagement with the Labour Party, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has announced.
Naidoo was confirmed yesterday morning as a list-only candidate for Labour - and his ranking at 13th means he is almost guaranteed a seat in Parliament.
He is an ethnic, iwi and communities relationships manager for police.
Chambers said Naidoo's role in the police was now untenable and he should have been informed earlier of his political intentions.
The police manual says someone of Naidoo's rank has to inform the commissioner of that.
This afternoon, Chambers said a review would be undertaken over the period during which Naidoo was engaging with the Labour Party, prior to him advising NZ Police of his candidacy intentions.
"That review will include meetings he was involved in as a senior police leader, the information he was privy to by virtue of his position, and whether anything was shared with any third party that should not have been shared.
"As a senior police officer, Superintendent Naidoo was privy to sensitive information and I need to be reassured information he has been privy to through the course of his duties has been handled properly.
"If anything of concern comes out of that, it will be assessed against the Police Code of Conduct."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins told RNZ's Morning Report programme today that Naidoo had followed process by informing his manager.
"I think when you tell your boss, and your boss says, 'Okay, I'll pass that on to the commissioner,' I think you can assume that that means that you've done your duty of making sure the commissioner's been informed."
Labour had been speaking with Naidoo for a couple of months, Hipkins said, and had agreed to a shortened selection process for him if he chose to stand.
"He wouldn't have to confirm with us until quite late in the piece that he was intending to proceed with a candidacy because he was very conscious, and we were very conscious, that the political neutrality of the police is incredibly important - and I think he's acted with the utmost integrity here."
Chambers told RNZ he should have been advised "at the early stages of those talks, which appear to have been ongoing over the last 2 to 3 months".
"That would have allowed us to ensure the risks in this situation were managed while still allowing him to have those conversations."
Hipkins said following the announcement of a review that Naidoo "is a man of the utmost integrity".
"I am confident he has conducted himself respectfully while remaining mindful of the political neutrality of New Zealand Police.
"He has not disclosed any sensitive police information to the Labour Party and I'm very surprised to see the Police Commissioner publicly entertaining any suggestion he has without any evidence whatsoever."
He said the Labour Party was "committed to preserving the political neutrality of the police force and will support their decisions on how to manage Rakesh's transition accordingly".
"I would, however, expect any engagement to be in good-faith - not through the media."
Police Minister Mark Mitchell earlier said Naidoo had been privy to sensitive information.
"I am particularly disappointed that Mr Naidoo was recently included in sensitive briefings in relation to public safety and government policy and has been attending events with me as recently as yesterday afternoon."
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |
