The police spread “incorrect information” about Superintendent Rakesh Naidoo after he was announced as a Labour Party candidate, an assistant commissioner has admitted.
Assistant Commissioner Tim Anderson has apologised to Naidoo, and said he should have informed Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier when Naidoo first raised that he was considering running for Parliament.
Labour’s Chris Hipkins said the apology was needed. He had earlier criticised Chambers and Police Minister Mark Mitchell for casting aspersions on Naidoo without evidence.
But on Thursday, Mitchell said he had no regrets about how he reacted to Naidoo’s nomination. “It doesn’t change my position at all. It was a two week notice and I don’t think that’s acceptable,” Mitchell said.
The apology came after Official Information Act requests revealed that Naidoo told his manager about his plan to stand for Labour far earlier than when Chambers and Mitchell had claimed.
Naidoo, the police national partnerships manager for iwi and ethnic communities, was ranked unexpectedly high in an easily winnable spot on Labour’s list when it was released in June.
Chambers and Mitchell both expressed disappointment at the lack of warning they were given about Naidoo’s candidacy. Chambers said he was given five days’ notice, while Mitchell was told two days prior to the Labour list announcement.
“On Thursday afternoon [June 4] I was informed by his supervisor that Superintendent Rakesh Naidoo was considering standing as a candidate for the Labour Party in the general election.
“Superintendent Naidoo has not contacted me directly on this and I am very disappointed that he did not inform me or his supervisor that he was in discussions about his candidacy at an earlier stage,” Chambers said at the time.
But Naidoo had told his manager, assistant commissioner Anderson, a week earlier about his talks with Labour.
“At the time Superintendent Naidoo had not reached a decision on whether to stand and I therefore treated our conversation as a confidential discussion and did not inform the Commissioner of this conversation,” Anderson said, in a statement issued on Thursday.
He said this had led to Chambers and police issuing “incorrect information” about how upfront Naidoo had been about his plans to stand for Parliament.
“In hindsight, it would have been helpful for me to have advised the Commissioner of Superintendent Naidoo’s first approach.
“I have apologised to both Superintendent Naidoo and Commissioner Chambers for the confusion, which has resulted in incorrect information being provided to media,” he said.
Hipkins said Naidoo had never done anything wrong. He said Naidoo wouldn’t have had a lot of notice himself, before being selected as a Labour candidate. However, Naidoo had been considering a run for Labour for months.
“I welcome the apology, and the correction of the information provided to media at the time. As I have previously said, Rakesh Naidoo is a man of the utmost integrity, and I am confident he has conducted himself respectfully and followed appropriate processes,” Hipkins said.
On Wednesday, in the midst of the National Party’s leadership turmoil, police and Mitchell’s office finally responded to the Official Information Act requests about Naidoo. The responses had been expected in early July.
Stuff also requested all emails and communications between Naidoo and the Labour Party, from his police devices. It said that none of the communications “raise concern”.
“None of the identified emails ... were found to raise concern, or bear upon Superintendent Naidoo’s plans or subsequent decision to offer himself for elected office. Rather, all correspondence appeared to relate to the Superintendent’s role as National Ethnic Partnerships Manager for Police, many relating to his work with ethnic communities,” police chief assurance officer Mike Webb said.
After Naidoo’s candidacy was announced, Chambers launched a review into whether he passed on any sensitive information he may have been privy to while considering a political run. Chambers has not formally confirmed the outcome of that review, despite that Official Information Act response appearing to provide an answer.
-Stuff
Assistant Commissioner Tim Anderson has apologised to Naidoo, and said he should have informed Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier when Naidoo first raised that he was considering running for Parliament.
Labour’s Chris Hipkins said the apology was needed. He had earlier criticised Chambers and Police Minister Mark Mitchell for casting aspersions on Naidoo without evidence.
But on Thursday, Mitchell said he had no regrets about how he reacted to Naidoo’s nomination. “It doesn’t change my position at all. It was a two week notice and I don’t think that’s acceptable,” Mitchell said.
The apology came after Official Information Act requests revealed that Naidoo told his manager about his plan to stand for Labour far earlier than when Chambers and Mitchell had claimed.
Naidoo, the police national partnerships manager for iwi and ethnic communities, was ranked unexpectedly high in an easily winnable spot on Labour’s list when it was released in June.
Chambers and Mitchell both expressed disappointment at the lack of warning they were given about Naidoo’s candidacy. Chambers said he was given five days’ notice, while Mitchell was told two days prior to the Labour list announcement.
“On Thursday afternoon [June 4] I was informed by his supervisor that Superintendent Rakesh Naidoo was considering standing as a candidate for the Labour Party in the general election.
“Superintendent Naidoo has not contacted me directly on this and I am very disappointed that he did not inform me or his supervisor that he was in discussions about his candidacy at an earlier stage,” Chambers said at the time.
But Naidoo had told his manager, assistant commissioner Anderson, a week earlier about his talks with Labour.
“At the time Superintendent Naidoo had not reached a decision on whether to stand and I therefore treated our conversation as a confidential discussion and did not inform the Commissioner of this conversation,” Anderson said, in a statement issued on Thursday.
He said this had led to Chambers and police issuing “incorrect information” about how upfront Naidoo had been about his plans to stand for Parliament.
“In hindsight, it would have been helpful for me to have advised the Commissioner of Superintendent Naidoo’s first approach.
“I have apologised to both Superintendent Naidoo and Commissioner Chambers for the confusion, which has resulted in incorrect information being provided to media,” he said.
Hipkins said Naidoo had never done anything wrong. He said Naidoo wouldn’t have had a lot of notice himself, before being selected as a Labour candidate. However, Naidoo had been considering a run for Labour for months.
“I welcome the apology, and the correction of the information provided to media at the time. As I have previously said, Rakesh Naidoo is a man of the utmost integrity, and I am confident he has conducted himself respectfully and followed appropriate processes,” Hipkins said.
On Wednesday, in the midst of the National Party’s leadership turmoil, police and Mitchell’s office finally responded to the Official Information Act requests about Naidoo. The responses had been expected in early July.
Stuff also requested all emails and communications between Naidoo and the Labour Party, from his police devices. It said that none of the communications “raise concern”.
“None of the identified emails ... were found to raise concern, or bear upon Superintendent Naidoo’s plans or subsequent decision to offer himself for elected office. Rather, all correspondence appeared to relate to the Superintendent’s role as National Ethnic Partnerships Manager for Police, many relating to his work with ethnic communities,” police chief assurance officer Mike Webb said.
After Naidoo’s candidacy was announced, Chambers launched a review into whether he passed on any sensitive information he may have been privy to while considering a political run. Chambers has not formally confirmed the outcome of that review, despite that Official Information Act response appearing to provide an answer.
-Stuff
