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Police will be reviewing whether new political candidate Superintendent Rakesh Naidoo shared sensitive information during the period he was courted by the Labour Party. Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says he isn’t aware of reports from which he can confidently state Naidoo had “obtained and released information to the wrong external parties”, but couldn’t rule it out. “It’s too early to say … a lot happens in two months.” It’s understood the police review will include meetings Naidoo held, the information he had access to and whether it was shared with any third party, not just Labour. Naidoo declined the Herald’s requests for comment. Naidoo, the Ethnic, Iwi and Communities national partnerships manager at New Zealand Police, was yesterday confirmed as a Labour list candidate, ranked high at 13 above many current sitting MPs. The revelation prompted Chambers and National’s Police Minister Mark Mitchell to express disappointment Naidoo hadn’t declared to them, earlier than last week, the conversations he’d had with Labour, which leader Chris Hipkins said had occurred for some months. Mitchell was the first to voice his concern after Labour’s list announcement, given Naidoo’s role meant he was included in sensitive briefings related to public safety and Government policy. “In my view it is critical that the public can have confidence that police are politically neutral. “The respectful and right thing to do would have been for Mr Naidoo to be transparent and disclose his intentions from the outset.” Chambers yesterday referenced the nature of Naidoo’s role in his statement in which he said it was “untenable” for Naidoo to remain. After a period of pre-planned personal leave, it was expected Naidoo would go through a consultation process regarding his role. Chambers yesterday said he was first informed by Naidoo’s supervisor on Thursday afternoon, that he was considering standing for Labour. On Sunday, Chambers was told Naidoo had confirmed he’d accepted a list position. Speaking to the Herald today, Chambers expanded on his concerns about Naidoo’s candidacy, in light of his role within police. “Particularly as a very senior police officer, because he has a very public facing role in communities across New Zealand, potentially the very same people that when you’re a list MP, you would be communicating with. “We can’t afford to blend his political aspiration with policing, they have to be kept quite separate.” Chambers noted it was “inevitable” Naidoo would have received sensitive information, which had prompted Mitchell’s concern. He said police would be investigating the conversations Naidoo had had over the months while he was engaging with Labour. “We’ve got some information to assess and just look at potentially what has been spoken about over recent times.” Chambers was asked several times whether he had received any reports of Naidoo inappropriately sharing sensitive information. While he initially didn’t respond directly, Chambers said: “Not where I can confidently say that Rakesh Naidoo has obtained and released information to the wrong external parties”. He also noted it was “too early”, given police would be looking into the matter. “If information came to me to suggest that certain individuals had specifically spoken out of turn based on the information that they were privy to, then yes, I’d be concerned about that.” Chambers couldn’t give many details about what process police would follow, saying it was being developed currently. “We’ll have a think about how best do we look at the last couple of months to reassure ourselves that there’s no information that’s been shared or passed on that will be used for a different purpose,” Chambers said, acknowledging it would include whether Naidoo shared information for political purposes. “Obviously there’s going to be conversations with Rakesh, probably with his supervisor, in terms of now that he has been publicly announced as a list MP, access to police infor...
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