Liu case going septic for Labour

The Liu case is becoming more septic for Labour:

A former Labour Minister intervened three times in the immigration bid of Donghua Liu including waiving the English language requirement for the millionaire businessman.

Damien O’Connor, in his role as the associate Immigration Minister, wrote three letters to Liu’s advisor Warren Kyd – the former National Party MP – before deciding to grant residency against the advice of officials the day before the 2005 election.

The West Coast MP has said he cannot remember why he granted residency to the businessman whose links to both National and Labour have created political waves this year.

But letters released to the Herald under the Official Information Act show Mr O’Connor was being lobbied by Mr Kyd on behalf of Liu in the lead up to the tightly fought election. . .

The first, dated June 1 2005, . . .

A second letter to Mr Kyd, dated August 9 2005, reveals Mr O’Connor said “it is not my normal practice to intervene in the established immigration application process, however, I have decided to make an exception in this case. . .

A third letter to Mr Kyd, dated September 16, 2005 – the day before the election – stated Mr O’Connor had considered the case carefully and “decided to intervene”.

“I am therefore instructing the Department of Labour Immigration Service to grant residence to Mr Liu as an exception to policy. The grant of residence will be subject to Mr Liu completing an application form, paying an application fee and meeting health and character requirements”.

The residency was granted under the terms of the Investor Category at the time.

Mr O’Connor has told the Herald he cannot remember the circumstances in which he granted Liu’s application.

To forget one letter might be understandable, forgetting two looks distinctly careless and three is simply not credible.

Labour needs its annual conference this weekend to go without a hitch.

It’s already starting with criticism of closing most sessions to the media and now it will have the shadow of the Liu controversy hanging over it as well.