Official e-mail blamed for New Zealand fumbling of Malaysian diplomat sex attack case

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully on Friday conceded that an official email by the ministry had caused misunderstanding and led to a Malaysian military attache claiming diplomatic immunity and leaving the country after being arrested on sexual assault charges.

A New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) protocol official sent the e-mail to a Malaysian High Commission official in Wellington after then Malaysian defense attache Muhammad Rizalman, 39, carried out an attack against a woman in her Wellington home in May 2014.

Rizalman was allowed to claim diplomatic immunity and return home in the wake of the offense and the ensuing scandal forced the New Zealand government to make an embarrassing request for Rizalman's extradition, which occurred in October 2014.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully released the findings of the inquiry by former Treasury Secretary John Whitehead a day after Rizalman was sentenced to nine months' home detention in New Zealand after he was convicted of the indecent assault.

Rizalman will be deported after serving his sentence.

The findings were "not unexpected but they are very disappointing," McCully said in a statement.

"At the heart of the matter is a single e-mail, along with procedural shortcomings, which gave Malaysian officials the impression it would be acceptable for Mr Rizalman to return to Malaysia," he said.

In the e-mail, the MFAT official wrote: "If (Rizalman) were to complete his posting prior to May 30 and return to Malaysia with his family, that would be the end of the matter."

Whitehead's report said the official explained "the matter" was intended to refer to a court appearance referred to earlier in the paragraph, and was not intended to suggest that the New Zealand government was seeking anything other than a waiver of immunity.

However, it said, "inadvertently the e-mail provided scope for the Malaysian authorities to misunderstand the intent, as subsequently proved to be the case."

McCully said there should never have been any doubt that Rizalman's case should have gone through the New Zealand courts.

"I would like to acknowledge the role of the Malaysian government in ensuring that he returned to face justice in New Zealand. I would also like to reiterate my apology to the young woman who was so badly let down by the way this issue was handled," he said.

Whitehead's report had 21 recommendations to ensure that such an event would not be repeated and these had been fully implemented by the MFAT.

MFAT chief executive Brook Barrington said the ministry apologized unreservedly to the New Zealand government, and to the victim.

"As a matter of explicit policy we will seek a waiver of diplomatic immunity for all serious crimes where the police determine that a prosecution is warranted," Barrington said in a statement.

Opposition lawmakers said the inquiry had been prevented from investigating exactly how much McCully and other government ministers knew about the events and why they did nothing to intervene.

McCully had been briefed on the crime from the outset, but failed to follow-up or even enquire about it, foreign affairs spokesperson for the main opposition Labour Party, David Shearer, said.

"It defies belief that Mr McCully did nothing to stop Rizalman going home," Shearer said in a statement. Endit