Immigration officials 'deliberately withheld' information on failed technology upgrade

4 minutes ago

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has issued a scathing takedown of her ministry, saying officials "deliberately withheld" information from both her and the previous Labour government about a failed technology upgrade and used "creative accounting" to avoid scrutiny.

Appearing before MPs at a Scrutiny Week appearance on Tuesday morning, Stanford said Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche would investigate "integrity concerns" raised by a damning review.

Sitting alongside her, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) chief executive Nic Blakeley offered an apology to MPs and said he took accountability on behalf on his department.

"I'm committed to learning from this and implementing change."

In 2024, RNZ drew attention to major problems and delays plaguing the Biometric Capability Upgrade.

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford.

Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro

An independent report - released by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) - identified major flaws in the department's handling of the project, resulting in a waste of more than $30 million.

The report's author Greg James said INZ launched the project in 2018 without ministerial sign-off, then pivoted to an "off-shelf model" in 2020 without due diligence.

He said officials persisted despite multiple red flags, including delays, missed milestones and significant inadequacies.

"Despite escalating costs, the project continued for several years before ultimately being stopped [in 2025], having delivered no measurable benefits while incurring significant cost overruns."

The report found ministerial reporting throughout had been inconsistent: "at times overly optimistic, and occasionally misrepresenting the true status of the project".

Stanford said this year's Budget included a $31.2 million write-off of the project.

"After seven years, MBIE somehow spent tens of millions of dollars. Not only do we have nothing to show for it, but we are now in a position of having to maintain the existing aging infrastructure while a new solution is sought."

Stanford said the findings were "very serious" and "almost as bad as it gets".

"Firstly, ministers were misled. Secondly, people were moved from the project when they raised concerns. And thirdly, and this is quite serious, creative accounting practices had been undertaken to keep costs of the project below Cabinet's mandated limit," she said.

"Those are extraordinarily serious findings of the report."

Stanford said the problems appeared to be "widely known" amongst staff.

She said she had been misled with "pure fiction" from officials, which she said placed the blame on a "junior staffer".

"It is very difficult to trust officials when they are deliberately withholding information from you and providing misleading information."

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