Rakesh Naidoo told police boss two weeks before his Labour Party candidacy selection

By Sam Sherwood of RNZ

Superintendent Rakesh Naidoo first told his manager he was considering standing for the Labour Party about two weeks before he was confirmed as a list-only candidate.

Naidoo was confirmed on June 8 as a list-only candidate for Labour – and his ranking at 13th means he is almost guaranteed a seat in Parliament.

He is an ethnic, iwi and communities relationships manager for police.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier said his role in police was now untenable, and he should have told him earlier of his political intentions.

The police manual said someone of Naidoo’s rank had to inform the commissioner of that.

A review is underway into the period Naidoo was engaging with the Labour Party.

RNZ requested under the Official Information Act all correspondence between Naidoo and Chambers and anyone else in police regarding his intention and subsequent decision to stand for Labour.

RNZ also requested all correspondence between Naidoo and anyone associated with the Labour Party since January.

On Wednesday, police supplied RNZ with the requested information.

• Naidoo stripped of powers, uniform amid transition to Labour candidate

Chief assurance officer Mike Webb said there was no correspondence between Naidoo and Chambers.

The first conversation between Naidoo and his manager, Assistant Commissioner Tim Anderson, about the matter took place in the week commencing May 25.

“Superintendent Naidoo verbally advised AC Anderson he was considering standing as a candidate for the New Zealand Labour Party, although, at that stage, he had not decided to do so.

“On Thursday, May 28, Superintendent Naidoo provided AC Anderson with printed copies of Police policies, guidelines from the Public Service Commission and extracts from the Electoral Act 1993 which were relevant to steps that may need to be taken if he decided to stand for elected office.”

Then, in the early afternoon of June 4, Naidoo told Anderson in person that he was putting his name forward for the Labour Party’s list, and confirmed he was attending a Labour Party Moderating Meeting on June 6.

“Assistant Commissioner Anderson verbally briefed this information up to Commissioner Chambers by telephone at 3.21pm the same day.

“In a further verbal communication after his call to the Commissioner, AC Anderson spoke again briefly with Superintendent Naidoo.”

Naidoo next contacted Anderson about 1.20pm on June 7, informing him he had been selected for a place on the Labour Party’s list, and would make a decision on whether he would accept it that day.

Anderson then updated Chambers.

About 5.30pm, Naidoo met in person with Anderson and confirmed he would accept the list placement.

He then sent an email to Anderson titled “New Zealand General Election 2026”.

In the email, Naidoo said he was standing for the Labour Party as a list candidate and that his candidacy would be announced the following day.

“I intend to continue my service in police, in an apolitical manner until September 30, 2026. I will follow and respect the police, electoral and public service guidelines during this period.”

On September 30 he would take leave, before nomination day, which is October 8.

“On election day November 7, 2026 I will have an indication whether I have been successful in the 2026 General Election.”

If he was successful, Naidoo would “officially retire/resign” on November 27, the date the official results are announced.

“If I have not been successful, I will resume my duties on the first working day after polling day or at a mutually agreed time with Police.”

Webb told RNZ that checks of Naidoo’s email account found there were no messages directly received or sent from or to a @labour.co.nz address from January until June 10.

“Superintendent Naidoo was the recipient of a small number of emails primarily relating to community events or engagements, of which an email address with a @labour.org.nz domain was also a recipient; one of which Superintendent Naidoo sent a ‘reply all’ message to that email.

“However, it is clear from the exchange that it does not bear upon Superintendent Naidoo’s plans or subsequent decision to offer himself for elected office.”

Parallel checks of Naidoo’s police email traffic were completed to check for exchanges with any of the 34 current Labour Party Members of Parliament.

“A total of 239 emails were found to have been sent to or from @parliament.govt.nz addresses, only three of which were sent by Superintendent Naidoo.

“None of the identified emails to or from an @parliament.govt.nz address were found to raise concern, or bear upon Superintendent Naidoo’s plans or subsequent decision to offer himself for elected office.

“Rather, all correspondence appeared to relate to the Superintendent’s role as National Ethnic Partnerships Manager for Police, many relating to his work with ethnic communities.”

The review

Chambers earlier said a review will be undertaken over the period Naidoo was engaging with the Labour Party, prior to him advising NZ police of his candidacy intentions.

“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.

“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.

“If anything of concern comes out of that, it will be assessed against the Police Code of Conduct.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins earlier told Morning Report Naidoo had followed process by informing his manager.

“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.”

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.

“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.”

Police Minister Mark Mitchell earlier said Naidoo had been privy to sensitive information.

“I am particularly disappointed that Mr Naidoo was recently included in sensitive briefings in relation to public safety and government policy and has been attending events with me as recently as yesterday afternoon.”

This story was first published on rnz.co.nz