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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 on Monday morning as a list-only candidate for Labour , and his ranking at 13th means he is almost guaranteed a seat in Parliament.
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He is an ethnic, iwi and communities relationships manager for police.
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Chambers earlier said his role in police was now untenable, and he should have told him earlier of his political intentions.
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The police manual said someone of Naidoo’s rank had to inform the commissioner of that.
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On Tuesday afternoon, Chambers said a review will be undertaken over the period during which Naidoo was engaging with the Labour Party, prior to him advising NZ Police of his candidacy intentions.
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“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.
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“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.
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“If anything of concern comes out of that, it will be assessed against the Police Code of Conduct.”
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Hipkins told Morning Report on Tuesday Naidoo had followed process by informing his manager.
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“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.”
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He said Labour had been speaking with Naidoo for a couple of months, and had agreed to a shortened selection process for him if he chose to stand.
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“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.”
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Chambers told RNZ he should have been advised “at the early stages of those talks, which appear to have been ongoing over the last 2-3 months”.
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“That would have allowed us to ensure the risks in this situation were managed while still allowing him to have those conversations.”
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Police Minister Mark Mitchell earlier said Naidoo had been privy to sensitive information.
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“I am particularly disappointed that Mr Naidoo was recently included in sensitive briefings in relation to public safety and government
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policy and has been attending events with me as recently as yesterday afternoon.”:RNZ
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