Officials may have misled not only ministers but also Parliament over a failed $33 million immigration tech project, an MP claims, as the Public Service Commissioner appoints a former solicitor-general to investigate.
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said he had appointed Michael Heron, KC, to head an inquiry into the conduct of officials at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) linked to the failed biometric capability update project.
The inquiry will establish the facts and make findings about the integrity of MBIE's conduct, including whether officials may have withheld information and misled ministers.
Sir Brian said the matters at stake were serious.
"It goes to the trust and confidence of ministers who must be able to rely on advice they receive from officials," he said in an announcement today.
"The conduct and integrity of public servants is also fundamental to the trust and confidence New Zealanders have in their public service."
The appointment follows an independent review, released earlier this month, which found the seven-year project cycled through a dozen project managers, brushed aside warnings it would not deliver, and gave ministers misleading advice about its progress.
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says a report into a failed immigration technology project was “extraordinary” and “not great for the public service”. (Source: 1News)
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said at the time she had been misled, telling media after a select committee appearance that it was "very difficult to trust officials when they are deliberately withholding information," and "providing misleading information".
Speaking to media today, Stanford said it would now be up to the Public Service Commissioner to look into the conduct, declining to pre-judge whether officials had deliberately misled her or a select committee.
"Everything now is under investigation," she said.
"It's very serious if they have. But before I make any judgments about whether or not that was misleading, I need the full information about what was said and why it was said."
Stanford said she had made sure the terms of reference incorporated "all of the people that he needs to speak to to make sure that we get to the bottom of this".
She noted there were "a lot of negotiations going on with the vendor at the time that were very commercially sensitive", and said there might be reasons officials were or were not able to say certain things.
Speaking to Breakfast last week, the Immigration Minister said the information she had been provided was "diametrically opposed to the truth".
She said she had been told a "junior staffer" and a "mix-up" were to blame, but the review found "that one piece of misleading information is much wider than that".
Labour MP worried select committee was misled
Separately, Labour MP Phil Twyford, a member of Parliament's education and workforce select committee, claimed senior MBIE executives may have also misled Parliament.
He told media he had questioned officials about the project's status when they appeared before the committee in March.
"I went back and looked at the transcript and, really, they were dissembling and doing everything they could to avoid giving a direct answer," Twyford said.
He said the project had already been disestablished by then and officials had apologised to the minister, and he intended to raise the matter with the committee.
"It's one thing to mislead your minister, and it's another to mislead Parliament," he said, adding the committee could call officials back for its own inquiry.
Earlier today, Sir Brian said he was pleased to appoint Heron, describing him as a respected barrister and former solicitor-general with extensive legal experience who had been involved in several independent investigations for government agencies.
Heron, assisted by barrister Jane Barrow, will investigate and report to the Public Service Commissioner on what advice MBIE gave ministers, what the ministry knew or should have known about the project, and whether its conduct met the Public Service Code of Conduct and Cabinet Manual guidance, including the "no surprises" principle.
Among the concerns the inquiry will examine is an allegation that individuals who questioned the project's viability were replaced, or encouraged to move on from it.
The inquiry will also examine claims of "creative accounting", concerns raised about the project and how MBIE handled them, and how it dealt with its own independent review.
The review will not determine the employment, disciplinary, civil or criminal liability of any individual, but it may make findings of fault and recommend further steps be taken.
The final report was intended to be made public, "subject to any applicable privacy or other legal considerations".
Senior minister Winston Peters said last week that government officials who misled ministers over the project should be jailed, in a blunt response to the revelations.
The Public Service Act gives the commissioner powers to obtain information from the agency under investigation and its employees, while additional powers allow witnesses, former employees, and individuals outside the public service to be summoned.
The biometric capability update project began in November 2018 and was meant to modernise Immigration NZ's identity management system.
It was discontinued in November last year, having delivered no measurable benefits.
"It is anticipated the inquiry will take several months to complete due to the serious nature of these allegations, the complexity of the inquiry and the need to meet procedural fairness requirements," a Public Service Commission spokesperson said.
"Sir Brian and Mr Heron will not be making further comment until the investigation is completed."
The inquiry covers the period from November 2018 to June 2026.
Heron had previously been appointed to lead a separate inquiry into allegations that Census and vaccination data were misused, and previously headed investigations into a Covid-19 active-cases data breach and conducted reviews of Cycling New Zealand.
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